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Interaction versus Integration 157
them, is, argues Calhoun, eased by the widespread development of
tertiary relationships. Whilst some may see technologically mediated
relationships as just a disembodied extension of estranged secondary rela-
25
tions (particularly when tertiary relationships are only a rudimentary or
modest feature of social relations generally), for the most part, he argues,
such a level of relationship can be experienced as emancipatory. Remember
that Calhoun was advancing this thesis well before the utopian discourses
which heralded the Internet as relieving everyone from the impersonal
aspects of trying to maintain large-scale integration in an embodied form
by way of networks of agents.
The ‘proliferation of tertiary relationships cuts down on secondary,
but not primary, relationships’ (336). Calhoun argues that in substituting
for the unwieldiness of large-scale social integration occurring at an embod-
ied level, a tertiary relationship can actually free up individuals to spend
more time in primary modes. ‘We might focus time and energy on com-
munity building, friendships and family life, though this is only a possi-
bility, not an automatic result’ (336).
For Calhoun, this possibility is a feature of all technologically
extended and mediated relationships, not simply communicative ones.
He gives the example of the automatic teller machine. ‘Direct interper-
sonal contact is reduced, as the customer no longer deals with a teller. But
the customer also spends less time standing in lines and has greater flex-
ibility as to when to use banking services.’ The customer does not have to
endure the

rebuff of non-recognition. … There is often a disappointment on the
customer’s side at not being recognized (and apparently not trusted) by a
person with whom he or she may interact on a regular basis. … It is not
obvious that we are losing much of value in giving up this sort of ‘personal’
interaction. (336)
Conversely, argues Calhoun, the flexibility we have with interfacing
with the much more numerous machines frees up time which can be used
more productively elsewhere, as well as being ‘redeployed into primary
relationships’ (336).
However, Calhoun’s caveat is that while computers might greatly
assist in large-scale integration,

there is as much (or more) reason to think that computerization and new com-
munications technologies will lead to or accompany further deterioration of
interpersonal relationships. A drift toward relationships of convenience might
be accelerated; passive enjoyments from the mass media might predominate
over active social participation. A few people might even wind up preferring
relationships based on single common interests and mediated through
computer networks – or worse (from the point of view of social integration),
preferring the company of computers themselves, which are dependable,
don’t talk back, and don’t make silly mistakes (very often). (337)