Fictional urban competence models are emulated by real city dwellers
Evidence
The urbane hero is, of course, a fiction. But to say that he is a fiction is not quite the same as saying that he is unreal. If no actual human being is quite like him, there are, nevertheless, undoubtedly many human beings who approximate him or who emulate him or who admire him. He embodies the characteristics, the know-how, the command over his complex environment that many urbanites would like to possess; for he is the man who walks with ease through the world of strangers. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 941
Categorization
Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims
- DEEPTHINKING: The distinction between ‘fiction’ and ‘unreal’ — that an idealized type can be simultaneously invented and socially operative — quietly establishes the analytic move the whole book will make.
Related
- Fictional urban heroes remain real as aspirational models urbanites emulate (similarity 0.89)
- City life depends on categorizing strangers rather than knowing them personally (similarity 0.81)
- Urban competence rests on reading strangers’ appearances, locations, and behaviors (similarity 0.80)
- Urban dwellers evolve from fearing strangers to managing them easily (similarity 0.79)
- Urban life requires extracting maximum reliable knowledge from minimum information. (similarity 0.79)
- The scale of urban growth read as self-evident is historically unprecedented (similarity 0.78)