City dwellers read each stranger’s identity from their location

Evidence

A homosexual male is a man in a homosexual bar and not necessarily a man in a pink ruffled shirt. A prostitute is a woman standing alone in the “Tenderloin,” and not necessarily a woman in a revealing costume. Elites are persons who can be found in the stores and restaurants which cater to their incredible buying power and not necessarily the persons who wear silk. The poor are persons who live in a certain section of town and not necessarily the people who wear the most tattered clothes. A “middle American” is someone who goes to the Elk’s Club, and don’t let that moustache fool you. A sales clerk is someone who is to be found behind the counter, never mind that he is indistinguishable from his customers. A university professor is someone who stands facing the students in a university classroom. And the fact that he may look like his students, like a Wall Street lawyer, or like a skid row bum should not be allowed to obscure this simple truth. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 460

Categorization

• XREF: Feeds directly into the core inquiry on civil inattention and observer reliability: recognizing a person by where they stand is the shallowest, most categorical form of knowing.