Sociology of the Stranger

The Sociology of the Stranger examines estrangement as a pervasive human experience, arguing that the figure of the stranger has been insufficiently theorized as a central social type. By drawing on phenomenology, ethnomethodology, dramaturgical analysis, Kwang-ki Kim reinterprets the stranger as a key to understanding contemporary dynamics such as globalization, dislocation, and social adaptation. Rather than being marginal, the stranger is shown to be constitutive of both social life and sociological inquiry, offering a model for authenticity, reconciliation, and homecoming. Highlighting how sociologists themselves often occupy the stranger’s position, this book is essential reading across the humanities and social sciences, revealing how the figure of the stranger illuminates dynamics of dislocation, adaptation, and the search for home in an age of transformation.