The stranger is not a transient wanderer but a settled potential wanderer

Evidence

If wandering, considered as a state of detachment from every given point in space, is the conceptual opposite of attachment to any point, then the sociological form of “the stranger” presents the synthesis, as it were, of both of these properties. … The stranger will thus not be considered here in the usual sense of the term, as the wanderer who comes today and goes tomorrow, but rather as the man who comes today and stays tomorrow—the potential wanderer, so to speak, who, although he has gone no further, has not quite got over the freedom of coming and going. He is fixed within a certain spatial circle—or within a group whose boundaries are analogous to spatial boundaries—but his position within it is fundamentally affected by the fact that he does not belong in it initially and that he brings qualities into it that are not, and cannot be, indigenous to it. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 387 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

In the case of the stranger, the union of closeness and remoteness involved in every human relationship is patterned in a way that may be succinctly formulated as follows: the distance within this relation indicates that one who is close by is remote, but his strangeness indicates that one who is remote is near. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 388 (#expands, via linked claim)

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 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The stranger embodies a simultaneous union of closeness and remoteness — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 388; The stranger fuses detachment with attachment, coming today but staying tomorrow — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 387; Strangers are perceived by type rather than as individuals — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 401

Related

• The stranger fuses detachment with attachment, coming today but staying tomorrow (similarity 0.91)
• The stranger is a person who stays but retains the potential to wander away. (similarity 0.87)
• Shared universal traits make the stranger simultaneously near and far (similarity 0.87)
• A stranger is someone personally unknown yet visually available (similarity 0.87)
• The stranger embodies a simultaneous union of closeness and remoteness (similarity 0.86)
• Strangers are perceived by type rather than as individuals (similarity 0.84)
• The most urban-inept strangers can be the most warmly treated (similarity 0.83)
• In the stranger, distance means the near one is far and vice versa. (similarity 0.83)
• Strangeness is a specific proportion of nearness and distance (similarity 0.82)
• Behavior can track type even when encounter partners are anonymous (similarity 0.80)
• Living surrounded by strangers is a peculiar condition requiring explanation (similarity 0.79)
• Seeing a handicap makes some strangers feel licensed to intrude (similarity 0.79)
• Sociology overlooked the pervasive situation of strangers among strangers (similarity 0.79)
• Stranger relations rest on general commonality, not specific differences (similarity 0.78)
• The stranger-known-other distinction is unstable yet practically meaningful. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• The stranger fuses detachment with attachment, coming today but staying tomorrow #qualifies (0.90) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 387
• The stranger embodies a simultaneous union of closeness and remoteness #expands (0.85) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 388
• Strangers are perceived by type rather than as individuals #expands (0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 401