“Always there for me”: Friendship patterns and expectations among middle- and working-class men and women |
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Authors: | Karen Walker |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, 19104 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
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Abstract: | Using data from semistructured qualitative interviews with 52 working- and middle-class women and men, this paper compares differences in both friendship patterns and expectations of friendship. Working-class respondents' friendships revealed a high degree of reciprocity and interdependence with respect to material goods and services. Norms of working-class friendship emphasized being able to rely on friends for such services. Middle-class respondents, in contrast, celebrated shared leisure and the existence of large networks of interesting friends. Middle-class friendships enhanced the individuality that characterizes contemporary middle-class life. As a result of class differences in the meanings and expectations of friendship, the potential strains and conflicts differed. Working-class respondents reported far more open conflict with friends over the exchange of services than did middle-class respondents. Middle-class respondents reported difficulties in asking friends for help, even though being able to do so was a widely shared ideal of friendship.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, Boston, Massachusetts, March 1993. |
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Keywords: | friendship class stratification interpersonal relations reciprocity social networks |
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