Publisher's Synopsis
This book provides a detailed account of friendship between adolescent girls, based on a long-term ethnographic study. Using participant observation and interviewing, young women's own perceptions and experiences of friendship are explored. Whilst taking account of the negative cultural construct of relationships between girls, a view often reflected in research, this book offers an alternative view, stressing the importance and closeness of young womenÆs friendships as they cope with growing up. A detailed analysis of quarrels between girls demonstrates that they are often a mark of closeness and intense emotions, rather than an indication of shallow friendships, as popular stereotypes suggest. Strategies by which young women counter constraints on their lives are demonstrated both in and out of school. Finally, the study shows the continuity of relationships and highlights the resistance young women make to the break up of their friendships.
