Kinship and friendship in modern Britain

Abstract

The latest in the successful Oxford Modern Britain series, Kinship and Friendship in Modern Britain provides a succinct introduction to key aspects of kin and friend relationships in Britain today. Graham Allan reviews a cross-section of research to examine the major issues surrounding contemporary kinship and friendship, analysing the personal - and social - consequence of these ties. The author examines key aspects of interpersonal relations to discuss the nature and importance of kinship in the late twentieth century. After studying modern perspectives on informal relationships, he focuses on kinship solidarities, highlighting their increased complexity in modern Britain, and reviewing the obligations and commitments between different categories of kin. In later chapters, he examines patterns of friendship, concentrating in particular on how they are organized and their social implications. Graham Allan also studies alternative views of kinship and friendship as negotiation and as economic exchange, also analysing how relationships may change in later life. Kinship and Friendship in Modern Britain provides the student with an invaluable introduction to the fundamental aspects of the sociology of family and friendship in contemporary British life.

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