Editing Social distance (section)

== History ==
Modern research into social distance is primarily attributed to work by sociologist [[Georg Simmel]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Levine|first1=Donald N.|last2=Carter|first2=Ellwood B.|last3=Gorman|first3=Eleanor Miller|date=January 1976|title=Simmel's Influence on American Sociology. I|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/226143|journal=American Journal of Sociology|volume=81|issue=4|pages=813–845|doi=10.1086/226143|s2cid=144041956|issn=0002-9602|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Bligh|first=Michelle C.|editor1-first=Michelle C|editor1-last=Bligh|editor2-first=Ronald E|editor2-last=Riggio|date=2012-09-10|title=Exploring Distance in Leader-Follower Relationships|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203120637|doi=10.4324/9780203120637|isbn=9780203120637}}</ref> Simmel's conceptualization of social distance was represented in his writings about a hypothetical [[The Stranger (sociology)|stranger]] that was simultaneously near and far from contact with his social group.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":32">{{Cite journal|last=Ethington|first=Philip J.|date=1997-09-16|title=The Intellectual Construction of "Social Distance": Toward a Recovery of Georg Simmel's Social Geometry|journal=Cybergeo|doi=10.4000/cybergeo.227|issn=1278-3366|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Simmel's lectures on the topic were attended by [[Robert E. Park|Robert Park]],<ref name=":03">{{Cite journal|last1=Wark|first1=Colin|last2=Galliher|first2=John F.|date=December 2007|title=Emory Bogardus and the Origins of the Social Distance Scale|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12108-007-9023-9|journal=The American Sociologist|volume=38|issue=4|pages=383–395|doi=10.1007/s12108-007-9023-9|issn=0003-1232|s2cid=144049507|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=":32"/> who later extended Simmel's ideas to the study of relations across racial/ethnic groups.<ref name=":03"/><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> At the time, racial tensions in the US at the time had brought intergroup relations to the forefront of academic interest.<ref name=":03"/><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> Robert Park tasked his student, [[Emory S. Bogardus|Emory Bogardus]], to create a quantifiable measure of social distance.<ref name=":32"/> Bogardus' creation of the first [[Bogardus social distance scale|Social Distance Scale]] played a large role in popularizing Park's and Bogardus conceptualization of social distance, which had some significant differences from Simmel's original ideas.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":32"/><ref name=":2" />

Contemporary studies of social distance do exhibit some features of a cohesive body of literature, but the definitions and frameworks sometimes show significant variations across researchers and disciplines.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />