SOCIAL DISTANCE THEORY

SOCIAL DISTANCE

Social Distance describes the distance between different groups in society and is opposed to location distance. The notion includes differences such as social class, race/ethnicity, gender or sexually, but also the fact that the different groups mix less than members of the same group. The term is applied especially in cities.

# Types of Social Distance :

There are three types of social distance and same are given below:

(1)            Affective Social Distance

(2)            Normative Social Distance

(3)            Interactive Social Distance.

Let us take up each of these one by one.

(1)            Affective Social Distance : This indicates how much social distance is associated with affective distance, that is, how much sympathy each member feels for the other members of the group. Bogardus, the creator of “Bogardus Social Distance Scale” was typically basing his scale on this subjective-affective conception of social distance. In studies concerning social distance, the center of attention is on the feeling reactions of person toward other person and towards group of people.

(2)            Normative Social Distance : This refers to the widely accepted and often consciously expressed norms about who should be considered as an “insider of the group and who should be considered as outsider of the group”. Such norms indicate the distinction between ourselves and others.

(3)            Interactive Social Distance : A third conceptualization of social distance focuses on the frequency and intensity of interactions between two groups. The main idea here is that the more the members of two groups interact, closer they are socially. This conception is similar to the approaches in sociological networks theory, where the frequency of interaction between two parties is used as a measure of the “strength” of the social tie between them.

It is possible to view these different conceptions as “dimensions” of social distance. However, it is important to note that these dimensions do not necessarily overlap. The members of two groups might interact with each other quite frequently, but this does not always mean that they will feel “close” to each other or that normatively they will consider each other as members of the same group.

# Bogardus Social Distance Scale

The Bogardus Social Distance Scale is a psychological testing scale created by Bogardus empirically measure peoples willingness to participate in social contacts of varying degrees of closeness with members of diverse social groups, such as other racial and ethnic groups, sex offenders, and homosexuals.

The Scale asks people the extent to which they would be accepting of each group ( a score of 1.00 for a group is taken to indicate no social distance).

·       As close relatives by marriage ( score 1.00 )

·       As my close personal friends ( score 2.00 )

·       As neighbors on the same street ( score 3.00 )

·       As co workers in the same occupation ( score 4.00 )

·       As citizens in my country ( score 5.00 )

·       As only visitors in my country ( score 6.00 )

·       Would exclude from my country ( score 7.00 )