Before revision: Civil inattention is the process whereby strangers who are in close proximity demonstrate that they are aware of one another, without imposing on each other – a recognition of the claims of others to a public space, and of their own personal boundaries.Joanne Finkelstein, The Art of Self-Invention (2007) p. 109 In practice Civil inattention is the term introduced by Erving Goffman to describe the care taken to maintain public order among strangers and thus to make anonymised life in cities possible.Erving Goffman, Relations in Public (Penguin 1972) p. 385 Rather than either ignoring or staring at others, civil inattention involves the unobtrusive and peaceful scanning of others so as to allow for neutral interaction.Elaine Baldwin, Introducing Cultural Studies (2004) p. 396 and 276 Through brief eye contact with an approaching stranger, we both acknowledge their presence and foreclose the possibility of more personal contact or of conversation.
After revision: Civil inattention is the process whereby strangers who are in close proximity demonstrate that they are aware of one another, without imposing on each other – a recognition of the claims of others to a public space, and of their own personal boundaries.Joanne Finkelstein, The Art of Self-Invention (2007) p. 109 In practice Civil inattention is the term introduced by Erving Goffman to describe the care taken to maintain public order among strangers and thus to make anonymised life in cities possible.Erving Goffman, Relations in Public (Penguin 1972) p. 385 Rather than either ignoring or staring at others, civil inattention involves the unobtrusive and peaceful scanning of others so as to allow for neutral interaction.Elaine Baldwin, Introducing Cultural Studies (2004) p. 396 and 276 Through brief eye contact with an approaching stranger, a person both acknowledges their presence and forecloses the possibility of more personal contact or of conversation.