Speech instantly revealed social class and group membership in preindustrial cities.

Evidence

Speech … is a highly sensitive status indicator … Upperand lowerclass persons employ quite divergent linguistic patterns, as do sub-groups within classes: ruralites vs. urbanites, men vs. women, old people vs. young people, and occupational groups, too. (Sjoberg, 1960: 128) … The preindustrial city dweller had merely to open his or her mouth to be placed immediately into the relevant socially defined categories. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 254

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the reader’s Simmel framework: the preindustrial stranger was instantly decodable by voice, whereas the modern stranger requires blasé attitude and behavioral inference.