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Paper short abstract:

In this presentation we will return to the classic essay ‘the Stranger’ to investigate a Danish volunteer initiative, where foreigners and older Danes are matched to socialize and talk Danish. Based on an ethnographic fieldwork, we describe the precarious work involved in the act of social bonding.

Paper long abstract:

In his classic essay “the Stranger – An Essay in Social Psychology” from 1944 the Austrian American sociologist Alfred Schutz describes the workings, challenges and insecurities facing a stranger wanting to join a new social group. However, to understand the stranger Schutz turns to the detailed mechanisms and layers of self-evident knowledge entailed in belonging to and maintaining the bonds of a social group. Schutz hereby details the cultural pattern peculiar to a social group, as well as the inherent routines, know-how and shared tacit knowledge involved in belonging to a specific social group. Through this description he exposes the challenges, constant questioning and ongoing work that is at play in meetings between strangers wanting to create social bonds.

In our presentation we will return to the insights from ‘the Stranger’ to investigate the Danish volunteer initiative Elderlearn, where foreigners, who want to practice and improve their Danish, and older Danes are matched to meet, socialize, and talk Danish to each other. Based on our ethnographic fieldwork carried out among Elderlearn volunteers, we highlight the amount of work, as well as emotional and practical engagements the volunteers invest in the acts of social bonding, and thus shed lights on key aspects of social life that is otherwise regarded as common sense and an everyday expertise i.e., ‘something we know how to do’.