Long-distance Friendships Research Articles

Friends near and afar, through thick and thin: Comparing contingency of help between close-distance and long-distance friends in Tanzanian fishing villages

Humans form and maintain friendships across long distances, which can provide access to non-local resources and support against large shocks that affect the entire local community. However, there may be a greater risk of defection in long-distance friendships, as monitoring for defection is more difficult at greater distances; accordingly, help between long-distance friends may be more explicitly contingent than between close-distance friends. We interviewed 918 participants from 21 fishing villages in Tanzania about whether they had received help in the form of a gift or loan from a friend living in their village and a friend living in a neighboring village. As there are local expectations that loans will be repaid but gifts will not, we predicted that close-distance friends would be more likely to help with gifts, whereas long-distance friends would be more likely to help with loans. Contrary to our predictions, gifts and loans between close- and long-distance friends were similar in kind and amount, though close-distance friends provided help more frequently, possibly because close-distance friends are more likely to meet frequently and belong to the same religious congregation. These results indicate that long-distance friendships are an important, and likely robust, strategy for managing risk and accessing more resources.

Work-life balance for transnational skilled workers in Sweden

In the context of globalisation, increased mobility and transnational travelling, long-distance friendships, romantic partnerships and family ties are becoming more and more common. Against this backdrop, this article focuses on highly skilled employees coming from Romania to Sweden and how they construct their work-life balance there. It analyses the work-life systems of highly skilled migrants in relation both to their co-present and long-distance bonds and overreliance on work networks of contacts, as well as investigating the relation between a particular work-life balance and highly skilled transnational workers' adoption of serial or circular migration. In doing so, this research asks how the work-life balance of highly skilled migrants can be understood from a life-course standpoint. The originality of this article comes from the interest in the work-life of transnational workers of both genders and of different family configurations, when most research on the topic of work-life balance still focuses almost exclusively on women and tensions between professional demands and traditional family lives.

A Tribute to Dr. Hafeez Malik: 17 March 1930 - 20 April 2020

3 A TRIBUTE TO Dr. Hafeez Malik 17 March 1930 - 20 April 2020 Aroosha Mansuri* My grandfather, Dr. Hafeez Malik was an esteemed scholar and a prolific writer. But rather than repeat a list of accomplishments one can easily find elsewhere, including in this very journal, today I would like to share some aspects of the man not always apparent in his scholarly work, characteristics that only those who knew him personally saw: his open-mindedness, his endless intellectual curiosity, and his generosity of spirit. Dr. Malik was born March 17, 1930 in Ghakhar Mandi, a small town in Gujranwala District of colonial India. He was raised by a single mother, a schoolteacher who believed in the value of education: she would point to his qalam, pen and say, “use it wisely and it can open doors for you.” He was taught Arabic, Farsi and Urdu by his maternal grandfather. He entered Government College in Lahore in colonial India and was graduated in the entirely new country of Pakistan. In those years he was an ardent supporter of Mohammed Ali Jinnah and became an active member of the Muslim League, calling for the creation of Pakistan once the British colonial rule was ended. My grandfather’s first book, based on his doctoral dissertation, traced the development of Muslim nationalism in India and Pakistan in which he himself was involved. Although Pakistan was created for the Muslims of India, my grandfather was preternaturally open minded, always sensitive to the plight and rights of religious minorities. For example, when asked in a social setting what caste he came from, he would say “dalit” (untouchable) to show his distaste for the question. He liked to speak for the oppressed: despite his personal relationship with Prime Minister Bhutto, my grandfather vehemently disagreed with the Bhutto government’s amendment to the constitution in 1974 declaring Ahmadis to be non-Muslim. His open-mindedness embraced the beautiful and good in all cultures and religions, and his special love was Christian sacred music: he often told me that Shubert’s “Ave Maria” was his favorite song. He was also unreservedly curious and never tired of learning. In the last few months of his life he had acquired a twenty-three volume compilation of 4 writings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmed, the founder of Ahmadiyya Movement, entitled Roohani Khazain. As with everything he read, I saw that he had highlighted dozens of pages in yellow and stuck notes throughout the volumes, in preparation for writing an article. Sadly, he passed away before he could finish it. In his final days, when his body began to fail but his mind was still sharp, he would ask me to read him the poetry of Iqbal and Ghalib. If I mispronounced or omitted a word, he would immediately correct me: he had memorized every line of these verses. He was so in love with the beauty of high Urdu and the hidden meanings buried within it, one of my grandfather’s books was about Allama Iqbal’s poetry and philosophy. But his most salient characteristic had less to do with the intellect than with the heart. My grandfather nurtured friendships across the world and across decades. He counted many political leaders, academics, writers, and artists among his friends. Rafiq Tarar, the ninth President of Pakistan, was once a schoolboy, walking miles together with my grandfather to their village school; if one did not have lunch, the other would share his. Whenever the two met later in life, they would instantly switch to Punjabi and carry on like the two schoolboys they once were. Another lifelong friend, confidant and intellectual companion was Javed Iqbal, the son of the great poet Allama Iqbal. He also fostered friendships with scholars in the Soviet Union, especially among the “Stans” of Central Asia. He visited the Soviet Union over a dozen times, and was brilliant at maintaining long-distance friendships with Soviet scholars, in particular Yuri Gankovsky. While there are far too many friends to mention, my grandfather’s three closest among Villanova colleagues must be. My grandfather was honored to help Father Kail Ellis establish the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at Villanova; he had...

Channel complementarity and multiplexity in long-distance friends’ patterns of communication technology use

Understanding how people use communication technologies (CTs) in close relationships requires examining interdependencies in or patterns of CT use in those relationships. We combined channel complementarity theory and media multiplexity theory to investigate first-year college students’ ( N = 155) use of CTs (video chat, phone calls, and text messaging) in close, long-distance friendships over a 3- to 10-day period. Overall, CTs were used complementarily. However, complementary use of phone calls and text messaging was higher in closer friendships. In contrast, phone calls and video chat were complementary at low but not high levels of closeness. These findings suggest utility in combining channel complementarity theory and media multiplexity theory to understand the “web” of CTs used in daily communication in long-distance friendships and point to similarities in and differences between CTs that might affect complementarity.

“The Real Deal”: Managing Intimacy Within Friendship at a Distance

How is intimacy constructed between friends who live apart, at a long distance? Family studies have paid considerable attention to the (re)negotiation processes of personal and intimate bonds within transnational families. However, less attention has been paid to the ways in which these structural constraints affect intimate relationships between friends. As significant members of the personal networks of individuals, friends have a supportive role that, in the continuum of other personal relationships (family, co-workers, neighbors, acquaintances), is challenged by the increasing mobility that characterizes contemporary global post-industrial societies. While a significant amount of literature has underlined the negative impact of geographical distance in friendships, other studies have suggested otherwise, stressing the renewed importance of friendship ties between geographically long-distant young adults. This paper explores long distance friendships (LDFs) focusing mainly on two dimensions: the meanings given to intimacy and the practices of friendship at a distance. The main hypothesis is that transformations of intimacy between long-distant friends are likely to be associated with reconfiguration of the meanings given to friendship, as well as to the norms that regulate them. On the one hand, the erosion of friendship is associated with the impossibility of keeping a face-to-face, co-present, accompanying contact, which is part of the expected normative role of friendship. On the other hand, its reconfiguration is mostly associated with those routines and rituals that keep friendship alive by permanently reenacting a sense of self identity and “ontological security” through the “work of memory.” The role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in fostering intimacy within an LDF is also explored, as these have considerably changed the ways we relate to geographical distance and, therefore, the norms that shape intimate relationships.

Absence—and Mediated Communication—Makes the Heart Grow Fonder: Clarifying the Predictors of Satisfaction and Commitment in Long-Distance Friendships

This study sought to integrate research in the areas of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and long-distance (romantic and dating) relationships (LDRs). Specifically, predictions extracted from the hyperpersonal model of CMC and research on idealization in LDRs were tested. Five hundred ninety-two participants completed an online survey. Results indicated that the amount of time since individuals last communicated face to face moderates the relationship between media use frequency and satisfaction and commitment for long-distance friends. The findings provide support for hyperpersonal idealization mechanisms in some types of long-distance friendships.

Differences in the quantity of social support between geographically close and long-distance friendships

The present study investigated whether geographic distance affects the quantity of received and perceived social support provided by best friends. A total of 142 undergraduate students completed a web-based survey assessing social support within their friendship networks. Findings indicated that geographically close best friends provide more received support than their long-distance counterparts, but there was no consistent difference between groups for perceived support. Implications and future avenues for research are discussed.

Friendships are flexible, not fragile: Turning points in geographically-close and long-distance friendships

Prior research has characterized friendships, particularly long-distance friendships, as fragile. A turning point analysis compared changes in friendship levels for 100 college students in geographically-close (GC) and long-distance (LD) same-sex friendships. Results indicated that friendship level and commitment level are strongly and positively associated. Moreover, friendship level and proximity are interdependent with several categories of turning points. Finally, a linear sequence of shifts in friendship level is associated with both GC and LD friends, but a nonlinear sequence that includes a shift back to the casual friendship level with recovery is more typical for LD friends. Findings highlight transformation within friendships and suggest that it may be more accurate to conceptualize friendships as flexible rather than fragile.

Media use in long‐distance friendships

New media such as email and mobile phones have made it easier to maintain relationships over distances. The present paper examines which media people use to maintain long-distance friendships. The main focus lies on the comparison of email and phone. Media choice theories like media richness theory assume that media can be classified according to their richness, and that people choose the medium which fits best to the affordances of a specific task. The phone as richer medium should be preferred over email in the case of maintenance of long-distance friendships because it is easier to express emotions and to give immediate feedback via phone than via email. Email is an asynchronous medium and communication via email is therefore independent of space and time. Therefore, it can also be argued that email is preferred over the phone because it makes it easier to communicate across different work schedules or even time-zones. In two studies (Study 1 conducted in the Netherlands, Study 2 conducted in Germany) media use in long-distance friendships was measured. Across both studies, email was the most frequently used medium. In Study 1, an interesting asymmetric influence of closeness of the friendship emerged. The closer the friendship, the more emails were written in total, but the less the relative use of email. Instead, the percentage of phone calls increased. Study 2 aimed to replicate and explain this finding and assessed also the content of the phone call or emails. Whereas the intimateness of the emails did not change with increased closeness of the friendship, the intimateness of the phone calls increased with increasing closeness of the friendship. This result indicates that people use email primarily for staying in touch, whereas important personal matters are still discussed on the phone.

Keeping the Ball in the Air: Contact in Long-Distance Friendships

ABSTRACT As people continue to be more mobile, maintenance behaviors for long-distance friendships will continue to be a part of the relocation experience. In this qualitative study, 25 women age 45 and over, who had relocated a number of times, were asked to talk about how their friendships had transitioned to being long-distance relationships and what current maintenance behaviors entailed. Communication was a major theme involving electronic mail (e-mail), Christmas cards, telephone calls, and visits. Results from the current study suggest that maintaining the perception of the existence of a well-connected social support system could be accomplished with a single, annual contact. Further, the long-distance friendship biographies explored in this study provided characteristics of friendship maintenance behavior that could be grouped into three main categories forming a proposed typology of long-distance friendship maintenance.

Deadhead Social Science: You Ain't Gonna Learn What You Don't Want to Know (review)

Reviewed by: Deadhead Social Science: You Ain't Gonna Learn What You Don't Want to Know. Revell Carr Deadhead Social Science: You Ain't Gonna Learn What You Don't Want to Know. Ed. Rebecca G. Adams and Robert Sardiello. (Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 2000. Pp. 299, foreword, introduction, 21 photographs, 8 tables, references, index.) Imagine a community where, seventy times a year, tens of thousands of people wear colorful clothing, ingest hallucinogenic drugs, and dance wildly to rhythmic, improvised music. That community would be swarming with anthropologists, folklorists, and ethnomusicologists. At a recent Popular Culture Association conference, writer Steve Silberman used this idea to highlight the fact that, for thirty years, the rock band the Grateful Dead and its legions of devoted fans known as Deadheads have been engaged in these very rituals. Only since the death of lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, and the subsequent dissolution of the band in the summer of 1995, have scholars begun looking more seriously at the Dead and Deadheads. Unfortunately, the opportunity for social scientists to study the Grateful Dead and Deadheads in the field has passed. Those of us who want to make sense of this phenomenon now are forced to rely on the memories of those who were there. During the summer of 1989, Rebecca Adams, a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, rented a bus and took a class of 21 students "on tour" with the Grateful Dead. Adams had been working on a study of friendships among academics at conferences when one of her students suggested that the same sort of long-distance friendships are created among Deadheads at Grateful Dead concerts. This idea was attractive to Adams because she wanted a project that would both inspire her students and allow them to take an active role as partners with her in field research, while also fulfilling her own academic goals (p. 18). Deadhead Social Science, edited by Adams and Robert Sardiello, is extremely valuable as a document of Deadhead culture, but it is Adams's commitment to partnership with her students that makes this an indispensable book for social scientists of all interests and fields. Now a tenured professor, Adams has been a mentor to over two hundred students writing term papers, master's theses, and doctoral dissertations on the Grateful Dead. A few of those works are featured in this new book, as are a few of the papers that came out of her 1989 class. While there is some unevenness to the essays, attributable to the authors' varying levels of scholarship, overall the book works well as a primer on the culture of the Deadheads, but more importantly as a pedagogical model for fieldwork studies. The book is divided into six thematic sections, the first of which is Adams's introduction where she explains her theoretical orientations and reflects on the dilemmas she faced as a collaborator with her students. She outlines some of the "negative sanctioning" (p. 40) that she has encountered in the academy, but also discusses the rapid growth of interest in the Dead among scholars, especially since 1995. While Adams has fascinating insights into friendship and community building among Deadheads, her real message is that "faculty should encourage students to engage in research related to their personal passions and should support them while they are doing so" (p. 37). Finding the balance between passion and scholarship can be problematic, as a number of the book's essays illustrate, but it can also be extremely rewarding. In the book's second part, "Music," Gary Shank and Eric Simon use semiotics and statistical analysis to develop a "grammar" that illustrates how the Dead structured their concerts, and how Deadheads perceived and interpreted [End Page 497] that structure. The second essay, by folklorist Robert Freeman, looks at improvisation as practiced by a Grateful Dead cover band called "The Other People," analyzing their approach to the Dead's music. One gets the impression from these two essays that the music of the Dead itself is not as important as how that music is understood by Deadheads. The next set of essays explores Deadhead spirituality. Shan Sutton shows that Dead concerts function...