For Benjamin, the flaneur is the primary tool for interpreting modern culture. He is the observer, the witness, the stroller of the commodity-obsessed marketplace. He synchronises himself with the shock experience of modern life. […] The point of the flaneur, argues Benjamin, is to lead us toward an ‘awakening’ – the moment at which the past and present recognise each other; to Erfahrung. His tool for achieving this is Einfühlung – Empathy.