In the subway, at the laundromat, in public libraries, even in the restroom—the seemingly asocial spaces of modern life—we are constantly, silently negotiating with strangers. Half-glances, polite smiles, unconscious sidesteps. In 1963, the sociologist Erving Goffman coined a term for this quiet discourse: civil inattention.
While civil inattention’s specific gestures—a quick, open gaze across the swimming pool, a pursing of the lips down the train aisle—can differ depending on the unacquainted and their settings, the intention remains the same: to acknowledge a stranger’s presence, and then to withdraw.
via Pacific Standard
(Photo: Photographee.eu/Shutterstock)
