Levels of trust between strangers and other transients

This proposal focuses on social organization of passengers and conductors on commuter rail trains in the Boston metropolitan area. The majority of passengers on commuter trains are familiar strangers. The Familiar Stranger is a social phenomenon first addressed by the psychologist Stanley Milgram in his 1972 essay on the subject. Familiar Strangers are individuals that we regularly observe but do not interact with. On the train are also strangers, defined by Georg Simmel as individuals who are members of a system but not strongly attached to it. Among strangers of any degree, there is always an element of potential danger, and this is true on commuter trains. Systems to control that potential become important in the train environment. Management strategies are used by both passengers and conductors, and could include things such as avoidance of others, and attempts to engage or befriend others. Additionally, these strangers come face to face daily, must sit side by side, and often come into physical contact by accident due to the unsteady movement of the vehicle. This physical closeness is long term on commuter trains, compared to subway-type trains, and will often find people sharing a seat for over an hour.

Since the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, conductors that serve commuter rail passengers have received training of a somewhat different nature than before. They are trained to be more vigilant of the potential danger (terrorism in particular) that each passenger poses. As a nation, since 9/11/01 it is my perception that people of the U.S. have expressed more awareness of the potential danger of strangers. For example, air travel is a form of public transportation that has been subjected to dramatically increased security measures to protect passengers and property. However, the transient nature of commuter train populations prevents the same types of security measures from being implemented as they are on airplanes. In the absence of highly advertised and publicized train security measures that might rival airline security, what methods are adopted by train passengers to address their sense of personal safety while commuting?

My primary method of research will be interviews. I intend to do ethnographic field work on the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company (MBCR) commuter trains serving the Boston metropolitan area. Though I have been a weekday commuter on one line for two years, I plan to become familiar with several of the 13 separate train lines at different times of day and different days of the week. I will asses the degree to which passengers and conductors have a sense of potential danger among their co-travelers through participant observation: by observing and conducting interviews with them. I will find out how commuters categorize the people they travel with, whether as strangers and familiar strangers, or in other ways. In regard to each of their categorizations, I will find out how passengers evaluate the level of potential danger. Most importantly, when there is potential danger, I will ask passengers how they manage their perceived sense of danger to gain the greatest sense of personal safety. I also want to discover if there is any noticeable difference in passenger's minds between their sense of safety prior to 9/11 and after.

Literature that I hope will supplement my research includes existing studies of taxi drivers and their passengers. I have been unable to identify studies of commuter train passengers that deals specifically with perceived danger of strangers. However, I will review the results of a collaborative study between Intel Corporation and the University of California Berkeley that studies the frequency of stranger interaction between train passengers. There is a richer variety of work that deals with strangers, familiar strangers, and the levels of danger assigned to strangers when statistical data indicate dangerous situations are most likely among people who know each other well. This work would fall under the category of "urban anthropology" and would be similar to urban studies categories in other fields. The results of the project would contribute to urban studies in which issues of social control, civilities, and trust are relevant.

In addition to interviews and literature review, I hope to examine conductor training materials to find what guidelines and strategies are encouraged to improve conductor and passenger safety. I am interested to find if there is any reference to strangers and/or the potential dangers posed by the passengers on trains. Current conductors have told me the training has changed since 9/11, and I would like to examine what has changed, and why.

Additionally, to help me find critical issues to examine, I hope to launch an Internet website that would provide an opportunity for people to post information and comments about my work. I want to encourage an on-line discussion board that anyone can submit information on. I assume that if I can have this working before I begin the majority of my interviews, the information gathered will assist me in fine tuning the questions I ask. For example, a recent conversation with a train commuter alerted me to his perception that economic class dramatically changes the "atmosphere" of groups of commuters traveling together. His descriptions of the noticeably different management strategies of interrelations between people waiting for the train between a wealthy suburb and a less advantaged outlying community may be an important point I'll need to consider.

My career goal is to work in the field of mediation, or alternative dispute resolution. Since my first exposure to mediation, I have become aware that much of what inhibits communication (and therefore inhibits conflict resolution) between sides of an issue involves lack of trust. This project would explore in depth one area of social negotiation in the absence of trust. Data gathered in this project would directly contribute to my understanding of the ways in which people become afraid (which inhibits communication), and ways in which they socially negotiate a stronger sense of safety (which encourages communication). This knowledge could help me as a facilitator in the future to make parties involved in negotiation feel safer in order to foster better communication, and to improve the chances of negotiating satisfying solutions to problems.