Description
This book addresses what is currently a highly significant issue in public and academic life--the nature of social capital and social participation. The authors handle the theoretical issues in an informative and sophisticated fashion, and unlike many other discussions of social capital, the book is based on strong empirical material. A significant contribution to the field. -- Graham Allan, University of Keele and University of British Columbia The authors portray modern friendships through insightful accounts and useful typologies. The review of the literature that threads through the book provides an up-to-date overview of the field. -- Stacey Oliker, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
About the Author
Liz Spencer is a Research Associate of the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex and a partner and cofounder of New Perspectives research consultancy. Ray Pahl is Research Professor at the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex and is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent. His many books include "Divisions of Labour", which is considered a sociological classic, and "On Friendship".
Reviews
"How many friends do you have? How important are friends in your life? How important is friendship to the health of a nation? These are the kind of questions that Liz Spencer (with colleague Ray Pahl) has been investigating. It's a subject that their discipline, sociology, has largely neglected, leaving it to the novelists and agony aunts. Their findings, as recorded in ... Rethinking Friendship, require us to do just that. Rethink."--John Sutherland, The Guardian "Perceptive, thought-provoking and wholly accessible, this book contributes to broader debates about friendship and will appeal to a wide audience from general readers to academic scholars and students interested in the literary field of informal social networks. Unequivocally, this book delightfully delivers essentially what it promises to. It is an empirically grounded and methodologically sound exploration, which is rich in detail and convincingly uncovers the persistence of hidden solidarities where family members are considered to be friends and friends take on family-like status. Here, the everyday is rethought in a new light which shines on old solidarities and new forms of social cohesion, successfully debunking the myth of an alleged lack of commitment and trust in declining personal relationships."--Sharon Elly, Sociology
Book Information
ISBN 9780691127422
Author Liz Spencer
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publisher Princeton University Press
Weight(grams) 624g