In the case of the stranger, the union of closeness and remoteness involved in every human relationship is patterned in a way that may be succinctly formulated as follows: the distance within this relation indicates that one who is close by is remote, but his strangeness indicates that one who is remote is near.

XREF: The paradox of distance and nearness in the stranger relationship echoes themes in phenomenology and social theory about spatial metaphors for social relations.

DEFINE: Simmel defines the stranger as a pattern where closeness and remoteness coexist, illuminating how social distance works.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 388