Citation

Runner JR. Am. J. Sociol. 1937; 43(3): 428-439.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1937, University of Chicago Press)

DOI

10.1086/217713

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The documents written by adolescents show that the social aspect of the environment forms the predominating interest of the period. Almost the entire bulk of the material may be utilized interpretively to show the changing nature of the individual social relationships and of the organization of the social field as a whole. A social analysis of this sort has necessitated a precise operational definition of the concepts of social distance and of status, which, together with the concomitant emotion of the participants, are assumed as the variable involved in each relationship. This paper is a description of the method used in the interpretation of social distance. Seven mutually exclusive zones of social distance are assumed, each characterized by criteria objectively determinable from the raw data of adolescent experience. From within outward, these are called the zones of "the confidante," "the intimate," "the familiar," "the acquaintance," "active group participation," "passive group membership," and "spectatorship." A key is given for the determination of social distance, as well as two illustrative diagrams, which have been constructed in accordance with it from the diaries of two girls.