ALONENESS AND SOCIAL FORM

The Simmelian call for a formal sociology is applied to aloneness to uncover generic patterns of relation between the individual and the community. Three forms of aloneness are distinguished by focusing on the interactional and relational levels of sociation underlying each. Other-imposed aloneness as represented by isolation is an asymmetric form. It is the state of being cut off from immediate interaction or extended relations. Mutually constructed aloneness is represented by privacy and solitude. Both privacy and solitude are symmetric, intentional, and cooperative; but privacy is the temporary suspension of interaction and implies at most a common past and shared future, and solitude rests upon a foundation of committed, temporally extended relationships. Self-imposed aloneness as represented by escapism is asymmetrical and involves a negative affirmation of the community. It is rooted in a distorted temporal existence.