As society becomes more and more fragmented, we are building more complex networks of second level associations. Although these are important social networks, they all remain relatively impersonal and non-permanent. This book looks at such non-intimate interpersonal relationships such as neighbours and work colleagues.

The distinction between friends and acquaintances is often made in everyday conversation but the significance of this distinction is under-explored. Acquaintanceship can be understood as a form of knowledge of other people that lies somewhere between intimates and strangers. This book argues that acquaintanceship is a topic worthy of investigation in its own right and assesses the overall significance of acquaintances in late modern society. This fascinating book examines the topic by: Exploring possible definitions of acquaintanceship Examining the key features of acquaintanceship Considering its nature and significance in a variety of settings Analysing different forms of acquaintanceship - including those in places of work, neighbourhoods and between professionals and their clients - it also explores passing acquaintances and newer forms of ties such as those formed over the internet, with celebrities or even fictional characters. Soundly based in sociological theory, the book assesses the extent to which acquaintances can provide a sense of location and security in modern life and the ways in which they can provide us with insights, often fleeting, into worlds other than our own. Written by one of the foremost authorities in the field, this book is key reading for sociology students, lecturers and researchers, in particular those interested in sociological theory, social interaction, the sociology of everyday life and the sociology of intimacy.

The distinction between friends and acquaintances is often made in everyday conversation but the significance of this distinction is under-explored. Acquaintanceship can be understood as a form of knowledge of other people that lies somewhere between intimates and strangers. This book argues that acquaintanceship is a topic worthy of investigation in its own right and assesses the overall significance of acquaintances in late modern society. This fascinating book examines the topic by: Exploring possible definitions of acquaintanceship Examining the key features of acquaintanceship Considering its nature and significance in a variety of settings Analysing different forms of acquaintanceship - including those in places of work, neighbourhoods and between professionals and their clients - it also explores passing acquaintances and newer forms of ties such as those formed over the internet, with celebrities or even fictional characters. Soundly based in sociological theory, the book assesses the extent to which acquaintances can provide a sense of location and security in modern life and the ways in which they can provide us with insights, often fleeting, into worlds other than our own. Written by one of the foremost authorities in the field, this book is key reading for sociology students, lecturers and researchers, in particular those interested in sociological theory, social interaction, the sociology of everyday life and the sociology of intimacy.

The importance of significant family contexts that are not easily circumscribed with reference to a household or a limited set of family roles has been underlined throughout the last two decades by researchers. A strong interest for family relationships beyond the nuclear family has emerged in the social sciences. The various contributions to this book develop a configurational approach to families, which emphasizes interdependencies existing among large numbers of family members, and reconsiders some of the central issues of family life in this light: fertility projects, childcare and socialization, monetary transfers across generations and support for the elderly, relationships with grandparents, uncles, aunts and in-laws, gender inequalities, divorce and other family disruptions, and the importance of friends and acquaintances for families. Beyond very real changes affecting the structures of family life since the sixties, the book reveals that basic forms of togetherness still underlie much of what is going on in family configurations.

This issue of the Zambia Social Science Journal looks at a number of pressing issues focusing on different parts of the Southern African sub-region. In ""Estimating the Impact of Food, Fuel, and Financial Crises on Zambian Households, "" Neil McCulloch and Amit Grover combine national household survey data from Zambia in 2006 with detailed, spatially disaggregated price data, to simulate the likely welfare impacts of the price changes arising from the food, fuel, and financial crises between 200 ...

This book is about the impact of austerity in and on everyday life, based on a two-year ethnography with families and communities in ‘Argleton’, Greater Manchester, UK. Focused on family, friends and intimate relations, and their intersections, the book develops a relational approach to everyday austerity. It reveals how austerity is a deeply personal and social condition, with impacts that spread across and between everyday relationships, spaces and temporal perspectives. It demonstrates how austerity is lived and felt on the ground, with distinctly uneven socio-economic consequences. Furthermore, everyday relationships are subject to change and continuity in times of austerity. Austerity also has lasting impacts on personal and shared experiences, both in terms of day-to-day practices and the lifecourses people imagine themselves living.

In an increasingly ethnically diverse society, debates about migration, community, cultural difference and social interaction have never been more pressing. Drawing on the findings from a two-year, qualitative Economic and Social Research Council funded study of different locations across England, Lived Experiences of Multiculture uses interdisciplinary perspectives to examine the ways in which complex urban populations experience, negotiate, accommodate and resist cultural difference as they share a range of everyday social resources and public spaces. The authors present novel ways of re-thinking and developing concepts such as multiculture, community and conviviality, whilst also repositioning debates which focus on conflict models for understanding cultural differences. Amidst highly charged arguments over the social relations of belonging and the meanings of local and national identities, this timely volume will appeal to advanced undergraduate students and graduate students interested in fields such as Race and Ethnicity Studies, Sociology, Urban Studies, Human Geography and Migration Studies.