Consequential Strangers : : the Power of People who Don't Seem to Matter...but Really do

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Introduction : the birth of a notion -- The ascendance of consequential strangers -- The view from above -- Beyond the confines of the familiar -- Good for what ails us -- Being spaces -- The downside -- The future of consequential strangers -- Epilogue : the postscript is personal -- Appendix I : twenty questions -- Appendix II : the occupation test.

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strength of weak ties submitted by edwardvielmetti on June 24, 2011, 11:35am This is a book written by a journalist and a scholar on the strength of weak ties and the value that people we don't know very well bring to our lives. Like many books written by journalists, it is dense with anecdotes and stories. If you want to skip ahead to the notes (p. 225-262) you get the academic side in full force.

The book appears to be a direct outgrowth of this paper

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1756-2589.2009.00010.x/abstract

Consequential Strangers and Peripheral Ties: The Importance of Unimportant Relationships
Journal of Family Theory & Review
Volume 1, Issue 2, pages 69–86, June 2009


Social networks in the 21st century include a wide array of partners. Most individuals report a few core ties (primarily family) and hundreds of peripheral ties. Weak ties differ from intimate ties in emotional quality, stability, density (i.e., who knows whom), and status hierarchies. Undoubtedly, close ties are essential for human survival. Yet peripheral ties may enhance life quality and allow people to flourish. Weak ties may serve (a) distinct functions from intimate ties (e.g., information, resources, novel behaviors, and diversion), (b) parallel functions to intimate ties (e.g., defining identity and positions within social hierarchies, helping when a family member is ill, providing a sense of familiarity), and (c) reciprocal influences between peripheral partners and family members (e.g., bioecological theory). Family science might benefit from investigating consequential strangers who pepper daily life.