Sociability in Vancouver

• In Event: 378 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session II
  In Refereed Roundtable: B. Table 06. Urban Sociology

Abstract

If there is some merit to the claim that Vancouver and other large cities are “unfriendly”, then this paper explores why that may be so. In the following discussion, I review selected readings from Dinesh Chakrabarty, Walter Benjamin, Zygmunt Bauman, and Georg Simmel, and then I synthesize with supplementary materials. These authors make important claims about sociability in modern societies. Some offer powerful critiques of the very word, “modern”, and leave us with the impression that “advanced civilization” is a sham.

Author

• Andrew C. Patterson, University of British Columbia