Personal relationships have long been of central interest to social scientists, but the subject of friendship has been relatively neglected. Moreover, most studies of friendship have been social psychological. Placing Friendship in Context is a unique collection bridging social psychological and social structural research to advance understanding of this important subject. In it, some of the world's leading researchers explore the social and historical contexts in which friendships and other similar informal ties develop and how it is that these contexts shape the form and substance the...

Patterns of household and family life are changing radically leading sociologists to develop new conceptualizations and understandings of the relationships involved. This book examines the character of these changes, exploring the growing diversity there is in people's domestic circumstances. It is particularly concerned with the blurred boundaries between households and families, and the tensions that can arise in the solidarities and obligations experienced as household and family processes unfold.