Clique-dominated society demands self-representation as a type rather than as an individual.

Evidence

Between these two factors of nearness and distance, however, a peculiar tension arises, since the consciousness of having only the absolutely general in common has exactly the effect of putting a special emphasis on that which is not common. For a stranger to the country, the city, the race, and so on, what is stressed is again nothing individual, but alien origin, a quality which he has, or could have, in common with many other strangers. For this reason strangers are not really perceived as individuals, but as strangers of a certain type. Their remoteness is no less general than their nearness. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 401 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

If you aim for a universal character you may end up with a vague or dull or windy one. If you set out to write a typical character you’re likely to produce a caricature, because people are typical only in the generalized qualities that lump them together. Typical is the most provincial adjective in a writer’s vocabulary, signaling that you’re writing only for those who share your assumptions. A “typical” schoolgirl in Dar es Salaam is a very different type from one in San Francisco. Furthermore, every person is typical of many things successively or simultaneously. She may be in turn a typical schoolgirl, bride, divorcée, and feminist. He may be at one and the same time a typical New Yorker, math professor, doting father, and adulterer. It is in the confrontation and convolution of types that much of our individuality is produced. — Janet Burroway; Elizabeth Stuckey-French; Ned Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edition, 284 (#expands, via linked claim)

On the other hand, Simmel was fond of portraying certain human types in terms of the general category of orientation to the world they embodied. Just as all the contents of the world can be defined in terms of the category of science, or religion, or love, so one can speak of the man of science, the religious man, or the erotic man—individuals whose experience is dominated by one of the forms of orientation. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 157 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Strangers are perceived by type rather than as individuals — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 401; Communitarian personhood defines identity through community rather than the Cartesian I — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 434; Individuality emerges from the layering and clash of overlapping social types — Janet Burroway; Elizabeth Stuckey-French; Ned Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edition: A Guide…, 284 (+2 more)

Related

• Social types can embody an all-dominating orientation to the world (similarity 0.85)
• Individuality emerges from the layering and clash of overlapping social types (similarity 0.84)
• Every person is perceived as both unique individual and general type (similarity 0.84)
• Everyone is composed of multiple social identities that position them differently (similarity 0.83)
• Social formations form complex unities structured in dominance rather than expressive identities. (similarity 0.82)
• Each person is a fragment even of their own singular type (similarity 0.82)
• Complex categorical placement depends on personal biographical knowledge (similarity 0.81)
• Strangers are perceived by type rather than as individuals (similarity 0.81)
• Individual identity is stabilized only within collective cultural networks (similarity 0.80)
• Behavior can track type even when encounter partners are anonymous (similarity 0.80)
• Uncritical worldviews make a single personality a composite of many historical layers (similarity 0.79)
• Language is socially constructed and speaks through individuals (similarity 0.79)
• Social relations reduce to structures of knowledge in Schutz’s extreme sociology (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Strangers are perceived by type rather than as individuals #corroborates (0.85) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 401
• Individuality emerges from the layering and clash of overlapping social types #expands (0.80) — Janet Burroway; Elizabeth Stuckey-French; Ned Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edition, 284
• Social types can embody an all-dominating orientation to the world #expands (0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 157
• Communitarian personhood defines identity through community rather than the Cartesian I #qualifies (0.72) — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 434