What Is a Friend? An Exploratory Typology of the Meanings of Friendship

Verónica Policarpo

doi:10.3390/socsci4010171

Abstract

In this article I explore the contemporary normative meanings of friendship, unpacking the subject through two different questions: “what is a good friend?” and “what is an intimate friend?” Drawing on survey data from a national representative sample (n = 1142), the topic is explored in the context of a southern European country (Portugal) that represents an interesting case study, for its characteristics of late, though abrupt, entrance into late modernity. Statistical analysis of the results enabled the construction of an exploratory typology of representations of friendship, according to the meanings ascribed to friends: family-oriented; trust-oriented; self-oriented; and presence-oriented. Results inspire a two-folded interpretation. On the one hand, they point to a pervasiveness of hegemonic representations such as friendship as trust and self-disclosure, namely among the younger and more educated. On the other hand, they highlight the pervasiveness of kinship ties in the definition of friendship, namely among the elderly and less educated. This suggests that patterns of suffusion may not only refer to more individualized and plural arrangements of personal life, but also to the persistence of more traditional representations and practices, characterized by an ideological commitment to the family in its more institutional forms.

Highlights

This paper focuses on a very simple question: what do people mean when they talk of friendship?This question is unpacked in two different ones: (1) what do we mean by a good friend? (2) what do we mean by an intimate friend? Both questions are put in the context of a southern European country—Portugal—with a particular historical and cultural pathway regarding family and personal life, in which research about this topic, with a specific focus on friendship, has been practically inexistent.Despite remaining underdeveloped, social sciences have approached the topic of friendship for several decades
One limitation of this study is the fact that it draws on data provided only by two open questions of a survey. This is a consequence of the quantitative methodology that was used, a survey applied to a nationally representative sample (n = 1142), where open ended questions are usually restricted, as it is the case of large scale surveys regarding social attitudes and values
The two questions did not provide long discourses, but rather succinct and concise answers, which gave new and relevant information to meet the ultimate goal of the study: to quantify the prevalence of the more salient meanings of friendship in a nationwide representative sample

Summary

Introduction

This paper focuses on a very simple question: what do people mean when they talk of friendship?This question is unpacked in two different ones: (1) what do we mean by a good friend? (2) what do we mean by an intimate friend? Both questions are put in the context of a southern European country—Portugal—with a particular historical and cultural pathway regarding family and personal life, in which research about this topic, with a specific focus on friendship, has been practically inexistent.Despite remaining underdeveloped, social sciences have approached the topic of friendship for several decades. This paper focuses on a very simple question: what do people mean when they talk of friendship? This question is unpacked in two different ones: (1) what do we mean by a good friend? Social sciences have approached the topic of friendship for several decades. Attention paid to the subject has been irregular and dispersed through many different foci of analysis, with a wide variety of methodological approaches and theoretical backgrounds, which makes it very difficult to provide a comprehensive account of the social norms and rules that shape contemporary representations of friendship.

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion