The level of socialization is centrally about more than just enjoying the other’s company. Usually it’s about forming and strengthening a friendship i.e. alliance. Normal people don’t care much about the interests of random people, but they do care about their friends i.e. allies. The level of socialization is about acquiring and keeping allies.
(There are, however, probably large differences between different cultures how strongly smalltalk is about what I described above. In some cultures one smalltalks with random people all the time, without expecting to meet them again, whereas in others it’s mostly done with just friends and potential friends.)
I think elevator conversation patterns are interesting. Typically in an office in the US we don’t discuss anything at all on an elevator if the people are all strangers—it can be stone silence for 70 floors. However, if there is anything at all discussed (beyond “four please”) - even something as trivial as the weather or how bad the traffic was getting off the loop—then usually we feel compelled to impart some sort of leave-taking expression when one of the parties leaves the elevator.
The level of socialization is centrally about more than just enjoying the other’s company. Usually it’s about forming and strengthening a friendship i.e. alliance. Normal people don’t care much about the interests of random people, but they do care about their friends i.e. allies. The level of socialization is about acquiring and keeping allies.
(There are, however, probably large differences between different cultures how strongly smalltalk is about what I described above. In some cultures one smalltalks with random people all the time, without expecting to meet them again, whereas in others it’s mostly done with just friends and potential friends.)
I think elevator conversation patterns are interesting. Typically in an office in the US we don’t discuss anything at all on an elevator if the people are all strangers—it can be stone silence for 70 floors. However, if there is anything at all discussed (beyond “four please”) - even something as trivial as the weather or how bad the traffic was getting off the loop—then usually we feel compelled to impart some sort of leave-taking expression when one of the parties leaves the elevator.