In “The Stranger,” Schütz also describes the ways in which people become familiar with new places and communities. This is often a disorienting experience, and strangers do not have a clear map to guide them through it. Think of a time when you have been a stranger learning about a new community. How did you adapt to this situation?

“The Stranger” by Alfred Shütz explores the inner- and outer- space psychology behind the “crisis” of a person placed in a foreign atmosphere. Everyone experiences, to some degree, this phenomenon of feeling “out-of-place”, including myself. I remember a time when I was a stranger in my own school. My sudden loss of friends had put me outside of the social group, and made me insecure of my seemingly innate knowledge of the social norms. I first began to adapt to this situation by realizing that I was different, just how everyone is from each other (but not everyone has the confidence to accept their differences). As a stranger in my own environment, I had to relearn all the social structures, and understand why people acted the way they did- from why they found some things funny and others not, to why they resorted to unnecessary cruelty. Then, as I became familiar with the whats and whys of the social construct I learned that to “fit in” I didn’t have to be a follower of my peers, I simply had to understand them and see each person individually.