Urban life requires categorizing strangers despite humanistic resistance

Evidence

If I am correct in this assertion, it follows that the situation of contemporary life-an urban situation-necessitates some continuing arrangement for making identities visible. It necessitates, that is, some continued denial of the great humanistic urge to obliterate “categorization.” Humans, if they are to live in the world of strangers (and given the present population of the earth, there would appear to be no other choice) need to know a great deal more than the simple fact of common humanity about the people who surround them. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 1031

Categorization

• XREF: The paradox of needing categorization despite its humanistic offensiveness speaks directly to the reader’s theme of how civil inattention both enables and deforms urban life.