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  • © 2019

The Public Life of Friendship

Work, Neighbourhood and Civil Society

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Contests the idea that friendship is a purely private relationship in late modern societies and
  • argues an empirical and theoretical case for friendships in public settings
  • Examines the nature of work friendships and describes the complex overlap between the
  • personal and public characteristics of work friendships
  • Explores why friendship makes us happy and what it can contribute to our public lives

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-viii
  2. Introduction: The Public Life of Friendship

    • Jennifer Wilkinson
    Pages 1-21
  3. The Secret Lives of Friends

    • Jennifer Wilkinson
    Pages 101-131
  4. Friendship and Reserve in Neighbourhood Commerce

    • Jennifer Wilkinson
    Pages 133-157
  5. Simmel Moves to a Different Neighbourhood

    • Jennifer Wilkinson
    Pages 181-210
  6. Neighbours and Citizens

    • Jennifer Wilkinson
    Pages 211-237
  7. Conclusion

    • Jennifer Wilkinson
    Pages 239-254
  8. Back Matter

    Pages 255-266

About this book

This book is about friendships in public settings today. Wilkinson examines friendships in the public settings of neighbourhoods, civil society and at work. Identifying the unique relevance which public friendships have to contemporary social problems, the chapters cover a range of topics, including work-life balance, women’s ‘double burden’ and their leisure deficit, and contemporary neighbouring initiatives. Wilkinson shows how ‘friendship time’ at work provides solutions to new social problems including privacy: with the modern workplace being hyper-public and emphasizing visibility, monitoring and 24/7 availability, friendship’s combination of voluntarism and trust enable a private refuge even in an open-plan office. The book also explores the way in which friendships in public settings like work and neighbourhood provide community to those in society who are more likely to be excluded from private familial intimacy.

The Public Life of Friendship will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of social science disciplines with an interest in friendship and the sociology of personal life.  


Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Jennifer Wilkinson

About the author

Jennifer Wilkinson is Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Sydney, Australia.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access