Social distance
Encyclopedia
Social distance describes the distance
between different groups of society
and is opposed to locational distance. The notion includes all differences such as social class
, race/ethnicity or sexuality
, but also the fact that the different groups do not mix. The term is often applied in cities
, but its use is not limited to that.
In the sociological literature, the concept of social distance is conceptualized in several different ways.
It is possible to view these different conceptions as “dimensions” of social distance. However, it is important to note that these dimensions do not necessarily overlap. The members of two groups might interact with each other quite frequently, but this does not always mean that they will feel “close” to each other or that normatively they will consider each other as the members of the same group. In other words, interactive, normative and affective dimensions of social distance might not be linearly associated.
Prejudice and Social Distance
It is said that every individual regards his or her own culture as being superior to all other cultures as inferior by virtue of being different from his or her own culture. In this way, the distance between individuals, who are influenced by different cultures, increases because there is no meeting point for the two. The social distance between these two cultures ultimately manifests in the form of hatred. A consequence of this distance and hatred is prejudices, that different cultural groups assume to be true for differing social groups. To take an example, the Brahmins are believed to possess the highest, and the shudras the lowest status in Hindu society. The social distance between these two groups is so great that the Brahmins look upon the shudras as lowly and imputre creatures. If a Brahmin child ever touches the child of some shudra, the former is given a bath to rid him of his supposed defilement caused by his touch. As a result of this strict formulation of his activities, the Brahmin child forms a prejudice in his mind that shudras are untouchable and impure.
Acculturation and social distance
The term acculturation is used to describe both the process of contacts between different cultures and also the customs of such contacts. As the process of contact between cultures, acculturation may involve either direct social interaction or exposure to other cultures by means of the mass media of communication. As the outcome of such contact, acculturation refers to the assimilation by one group of the culture of another which modifies the existing culture and so changes group identity. There may be a tension between old and new cultures which leads to the adapting of the new as well as the old.
Ways to study social distance
Some ways social distance can be measured include: direct observation of people interacting, questionnaires, speeded decision making tasks, route planning exercises, or other social drawing tasks (see sociogram
).
In questionnaires, where people are typically asked what kind of people they would accept in particular relationships, a number of groups may be listed and the informants asked to check whether they would accept a member of each group as a neighbor, as a fellow worker as a marriage partner and so on through a series of relationships. The social distance questionnaires may not accurately measure what people actually would do if a member of another group sought to become a friend or neighbour. The social distance scale is only an attempt to measure one's feeling of unwillingness to associate equally with a group. What a person will actually do in a situation also depends upon the circumstances of the situation.
In speeded decision making tasks studies have suggested a systematic relationship between social distance and physical distance. When asked to either indicate the spatial location of a presented word or verify a word’s presence, people respond more quickly when “we” was displayed in a spatially proximate versus spatially distant location and when “others” was displayed in a
spatially distant versus a spatially proximate location. This suggests that social distance and physical distance are conceptually related.
Route planning exercises have also hinted at a conceptual link between social distance and physical distance. When asked to draw a route on a map, people tend to draw routes closer to friends they pass along the way and further away from strangers. This distance effect is robust even after controlling for how easy it is for the people passing one another to communicate. Here, social relationship influences how participants reason about physical distance, and supports the notion that social distance, defined here as friendship, and physical distance are, again, conceptually linked.
There is some evidence that reasoning about social distance and physical distance draw on shared processing resources in the human parietal cortex.
Social distancing is the public health practice of encouraging people to keep their physical distance from each other during disease outbreaks in order to slow the spread of infection
.
Social periphery is a term often used in conjunction with social distance. It refers to people distant with regard to social relations. It is often implied that it is measured from the dominant city élite. The social periphery of a city is often located in the centre.
Locational periphery in contrast is used to describe places physically distant from the heart of the city. These places often include suburbs
and are socially close to the core of the city. In some cases the locational periphery overlaps with the social periphery, such as in Paris
' banlieues.
In 1991 Mulgan stated that "The centres of two cities are often for practical purposes closer to each other than to their own peripheries." This reference to social distance is especially true for global cities.
Distance
Distance is a numerical description of how far apart objects are. In physics or everyday discussion, distance may refer to a physical length, or an estimation based on other criteria . In mathematics, a distance function or metric is a generalization of the concept of physical distance...
between different groups of society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
and is opposed to locational distance. The notion includes all differences such as social class
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
, race/ethnicity or sexuality
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
, but also the fact that the different groups do not mix. The term is often applied in cities
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
, but its use is not limited to that.
In the sociological literature, the concept of social distance is conceptualized in several different ways.
- Affective social distance: One widespread conception of social distance focuses on affectivityNegative affectivityNegative Affect is a general dimension of subjective distress and unpleasurable engagement that subsumes a variety of aversive mood states, including anger, contempt, disgust, guilt, fear, and nervousness...
. According to this approach, social distance is associated with affective distance, i.e. how much or little sympathy the members of a group feel for another group. Emory Bogardus, the creator of “Bogardus social distance scale” was typically basing his scale on this subjective-affective conception of social distance: ‘‘[i]n social distance studies the center of attention is on the feeling reactions of persons toward other persons and toward groups of people.’’ - Normative social distance: A second approach views social distance as a normative category. Normative social distance refers to the widely accepted and often consciously expressed norms about who should be considered as an “insider” and who an “outsider/foreigner.” Such norms, in other words, specify the distinctions between “us” and “them.” In this respect, normative social distance is very different from affective social distance, because here social distance is conceived as a non-subjective, structural aspect of social relations. Examples of this conception can be found in some of the works of sociologists such as Georg Simmel, Emile Durkheim and to some extent Robert Park.
- Interactive social distance: A third conceptualization of social distance focuses on the frequency and intensity of interactions between two groups. The main idea here is that the more the members of two groups interact, the closer they are socially. This conception is similar to the approaches in sociological network theory, where the frequency of interaction between two parties is used as a measure of the “strength” of the social tie between them.
It is possible to view these different conceptions as “dimensions” of social distance. However, it is important to note that these dimensions do not necessarily overlap. The members of two groups might interact with each other quite frequently, but this does not always mean that they will feel “close” to each other or that normatively they will consider each other as the members of the same group. In other words, interactive, normative and affective dimensions of social distance might not be linearly associated.
Prejudice and Social Distance
It is said that every individual regards his or her own culture as being superior to all other cultures as inferior by virtue of being different from his or her own culture. In this way, the distance between individuals, who are influenced by different cultures, increases because there is no meeting point for the two. The social distance between these two cultures ultimately manifests in the form of hatred. A consequence of this distance and hatred is prejudices, that different cultural groups assume to be true for differing social groups. To take an example, the Brahmins are believed to possess the highest, and the shudras the lowest status in Hindu society. The social distance between these two groups is so great that the Brahmins look upon the shudras as lowly and imputre creatures. If a Brahmin child ever touches the child of some shudra, the former is given a bath to rid him of his supposed defilement caused by his touch. As a result of this strict formulation of his activities, the Brahmin child forms a prejudice in his mind that shudras are untouchable and impure.
Acculturation and social distance
The term acculturation is used to describe both the process of contacts between different cultures and also the customs of such contacts. As the process of contact between cultures, acculturation may involve either direct social interaction or exposure to other cultures by means of the mass media of communication. As the outcome of such contact, acculturation refers to the assimilation by one group of the culture of another which modifies the existing culture and so changes group identity. There may be a tension between old and new cultures which leads to the adapting of the new as well as the old.
Ways to study social distance
Some ways social distance can be measured include: direct observation of people interacting, questionnaires, speeded decision making tasks, route planning exercises, or other social drawing tasks (see sociogram
Sociogram
A sociogram is a graphic representation of social links that a person has. It is a graph drawing that plots the structure of interpersonal relations in a group situation.- Overview :...
).
In questionnaires, where people are typically asked what kind of people they would accept in particular relationships, a number of groups may be listed and the informants asked to check whether they would accept a member of each group as a neighbor, as a fellow worker as a marriage partner and so on through a series of relationships. The social distance questionnaires may not accurately measure what people actually would do if a member of another group sought to become a friend or neighbour. The social distance scale is only an attempt to measure one's feeling of unwillingness to associate equally with a group. What a person will actually do in a situation also depends upon the circumstances of the situation.
In speeded decision making tasks studies have suggested a systematic relationship between social distance and physical distance. When asked to either indicate the spatial location of a presented word or verify a word’s presence, people respond more quickly when “we” was displayed in a spatially proximate versus spatially distant location and when “others” was displayed in a
spatially distant versus a spatially proximate location. This suggests that social distance and physical distance are conceptually related.
Route planning exercises have also hinted at a conceptual link between social distance and physical distance. When asked to draw a route on a map, people tend to draw routes closer to friends they pass along the way and further away from strangers. This distance effect is robust even after controlling for how easy it is for the people passing one another to communicate. Here, social relationship influences how participants reason about physical distance, and supports the notion that social distance, defined here as friendship, and physical distance are, again, conceptually linked.
There is some evidence that reasoning about social distance and physical distance draw on shared processing resources in the human parietal cortex.
Social distancing is the public health practice of encouraging people to keep their physical distance from each other during disease outbreaks in order to slow the spread of infection
Infection
An infection is the colonization of a host organism by parasite species. Infecting parasites seek to use the host's resources to reproduce, often resulting in disease...
.
Social periphery is a term often used in conjunction with social distance. It refers to people distant with regard to social relations. It is often implied that it is measured from the dominant city élite. The social periphery of a city is often located in the centre.
Locational periphery in contrast is used to describe places physically distant from the heart of the city. These places often include suburbs
SubUrbia
subUrbia is a play by Eric Bogosian chronicling the nighttime activities of a group of aimless 20-somethings still living in their suburban Boston hometown and their reunion with a former high school classmate who has become a successful musician...
and are socially close to the core of the city. In some cases the locational periphery overlaps with the social periphery, such as in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
' banlieues.
In 1991 Mulgan stated that "The centres of two cities are often for practical purposes closer to each other than to their own peripheries." This reference to social distance is especially true for global cities.