Modernity transforms friendship’s opposite from enemy to mere acquaintance

Evidence

In traditional cultures, with the partial exception of some larger city neighbourhoods in agrarian states, there was a quite clear divide between insiders and outsiders or strangers. The wide arenas of nonhostile interaction with anonymous others characteristic of modern social activity did not exist. … The opposite of “friend” is no longer “enemy,” nor even “stranger”; rather, it is “acquaintance,” “colleague,” or “someone I don’t know.” In accompaniment with this transition, honour is replaced by loyalty which has no other support save personal affection, and sincerity is replaced by what we can call authenticity: the requirement that the other be open and well-meaning. — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 280

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘friend vs enemy’ shift maps cleanly onto the stated goal—Stevens’s loyalty to Darlington replaced sincerity-based honour with affect-based loyalty precisely as described. — connects to: The friend-enemy distinction dissolves only through mutual recognition within shared space; Modernity does not replace intimacy with impersonality but transforms it through distancing — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 343; Shared universal traits make the stranger simultaneously near and far — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 397 (+1 more)

Related

• Modernity does not replace intimacy with impersonality but transforms it through distancing (similarity 0.83)
• Modernity transforms the stranger from a whole suspect person into a fleeting contact. (similarity 0.81)
• Individualization loosens ties with the near to enable ties with the distant (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Modernity does not replace intimacy with impersonality but transforms it through distancing #expands (0.70) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 343
• The friend-enemy distinction dissolves only through mutual recognition within shared space #expands (0.60)
• Shared universal traits make the stranger simultaneously near and far #qualifies (0.55) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 397