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The Meta-Narrative of Strangers-Turned-Friends

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The Nation and the Promise of Friendship

Part of the book series: Cultural Sociology ((CULTSOC))

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Abstract

This chapter unravels the symbolic cultural level of national solidarity discourse. National rhetoric reconciles two distinct tropes for close-knit ties, family and friendship, by invoking the figure of the “brother.” The magic of the national imagination lies not only in the transformation of strangers into friends but also in imagining these new friends as rediscovered brothers (and, only obliquely, sisters) of the same primordial tribe. Epitomizing the continuing demand for salvation in modern social life, this meta-narrative gives sacred meaning to mundane performances of sociability, operating as a set of binary codes that transform abstract, anonymous, inclusive, indifferent, and interest-based relations between strangers into concrete, familiar, intimately exclusive, loyal, and passionate relations between friends.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Gender Studies Program, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel

    Danny Kaplan

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  1. Danny Kaplan
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Correspondence to Danny Kaplan .

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Kaplan, D. (2018). The Meta-Narrative of Strangers-Turned-Friends. In: The Nation and the Promise of Friendship. Cultural Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78402-1_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78402-1_5

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-78401-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-78402-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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