Blasé attitude and the modern digital city
LIGHT AND SHADOWS OF DIGITAL REALITY (Special issue)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17072/2078-7898/2023-3-382-395Keywords:
sociology of G. Simmel, big cities, blasé attitude, urban space, individuation, heterotopia, civil inattention, flânerie, cyberflaneurAbstract
The article provides an analysis of the category «blasé attitude» inferred by G. Simmel as a specific feature of the mental and social life of big cities. The study deals with the sources of the formation of blasé attitude and its key aspects as well as the transformation of the blasé attitude mechanism and the use in different «points» of social space, including in cyberenvironment. In addition, the «blasé attitude trap» is described, which is when the efforts expended in order to reduce nervous tension do not lead to the desired result and can even increase the intellectual load. The paper separately examines changes in the mechanism of blasé attitude under lockdown and self-isolation of the population of big cities during the COVID-19 pandemic, characterized by the possibilities of using urban environment and its economic and socio-cultural infrastructure being significantly reduced or requiring that a person literally let the space of the city into their own home. The latter leads to the search for ways of reducing the heterotopicity of space, to a focus on the production of counteracting factors and the use of available physical constraints. The examples considered in the paper show the transformation of not only everyday life but also the practices of maintaining the usual way of building relationships with Others in changing circumstances. The modern city is described through such categories as «flânerie» and «civil inattention», which, in combination with «blasé attitude», allow us to demonstrate the transformation of everyday practices of the inhabitants of a big city. Citizens seek to reduce the risks of digitalization by finding ways to preserve the rules of the functioning of social systems and fix the boundaries of their operation, even if the boundaries are violated or it is impossible to separate them by time spent on daily movements. Blasé attitude is not only a mechanism for separating from some and creating a connection with others. It is the aspect of conscious acceptance that allows one to maintain a socially approved focus of attention in the performance of certain social roles.References
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