On Friendship (Themes for the 21st Century)
Publisher: Polity Press
Published: October 1, 2000
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 200
ISBN-13: 9780745622804
Subjects: Family & relationships; Social & cultural anthropology; Social, group or collective psychology; Social Science; Sociology; Friendship; Sociology - General; Family & Relationships / Friendship; General
First sentence: In contemporary Western society we choose our friends to form part of our private life.
Description: "Friends can help to form the basic structure of our lives but we very often take them for granted. Friends can sometimes be regarded as an oppressive burden when they appear to be greedily demanding too much of us. How to get the balance right is a perennial concern and the subject of much fiction and drama." "But has this always been the case or is the nature and meaning of friendship changing in contemporary society? Ray Pahl explores these issues as well as discussing who needs friends most and when, how friends make us the people that we are and whether friendship is a new metaphor for morality." "Pahl brings new insights to a form of relationship that has changed in its meaning and significance since the classical discussion by Aristotle. Drawing on a wide range of material, including history, philosophy, psychology and sociology, he focuses it into distinctive shafts of light which illuminate different aspects of this topic." "This book will appeal to a wide readership, since it does much to illuminate a fascinating topic at many different levels."--BOOK JACKET.