NEGOTIATING CLOSE FRIENDSHIP: THE DIALECTIC OF CONJUNCTIVE FREEDOMS

William K. Rawlins

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Attachment and Relationship Dynamics Communication Studies and Media Social Power and Status Dynamics

Abstract

An empirical study was conducted to investigate the practical management of interactions sustaining close friendships. Ten pairs of close friends were interviewed individually on two occasions and together on a third occasion. An interpretive analysis of subjects' remarks identified a dialectical principle governing the communicative organization of friendship. The dialectic of the freedom to be independent/freedom to be dependent conceptualizes the patterns of availability and copresence in a close friendship. Basically, while each person is free to pursue individual interests apart from the other and without the friend's interference or help, each retains the liberty to rely on the other should it be necessary. In granting each other a combination of these two freedoms, the individuals co-create a basis for patterns of interaction in their relationship that may curtail their individual liberties. The paper closes with an overview of the choices and possible corruptions experienced by self and other due to the mutually contingent nature of these contradictory freedoms.

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References

1974The Interpretation of Cultures 2017The Interpretation of Cultures 1973Steps to an Ecology of Mind 1974Families and Family Therapy 2009Families and Family Therapy 1963Strategies of psychotherapy.2016Conjoint Family Therapy 1967Conjoint Family Therapy

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2007Compassionate Communication in the Workplace: Exploring Processes of Noticing, Connecting, and Responding 1990Marital Partners' Perceptions of Marital Maintenance Strategies 1989A Dialectical Analysis of the Tensions, Functions, and Strategic Challenges of Communication in Young Adult Friendships 2005Informal contacts and performance in innovation teams 1985Thematic metaphors in relational communication: A conceptual framework 1999Dialogue and dialectics in managing organizational change: The case of a mission‐based transformation

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