• DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9558.2006.00293.x
• Corpus ID: 53581773

The Uses of the Stranger: Circulation, Arbitration, Secrecy, and Dirt*

@article{Karakayali2006TheUO,
  title={The Uses of the Stranger: Circulation, Arbitration, Secrecy, and Dirt*},
  author={Nedim Karakayali},
  journal={Sociological Theory},
  year={2006},
  volume={24},
  pages={312 - 330}
}

• Nedim Karakayali
• Published 1 December 2006
• Sociology
• Sociological Theory

Little attention has been paid to the role of strangers in the social division of labor that is otherwise a key concept in sociological theory. Partly drawing upon Simmel, this article develops a general framework for analyzing the “uses” of “the stranger” throughout history. Four major domains in which strangers have often been employed are identified: (1) circulation (of goods, money, and information); (2) arbitration; (3) management of secret/sacred domains; and (4) “dirty jobs.” The article also explores how these activities relate to the characteristics of stranger-relations. It is suggested that such an inquiry, in addition to helping us to understand how the presence of strangers in a society affects the processes of social differentiation, might equip us with a conceptual framework often lacking from purely political and ethical considerations of stranger-relations.