Peer Power Undermined

Abstract

Most people consider their friendships as resulting from personal choices such as attraction or shared interests. When asked to think about friendships, it’s typical to talk about commonalities that emanate from individual identity, personalities, experiences, or perspectives about the world. Similar to the way Americans think about poverty or school failure as an individual shortcoming (as opposed to structural inequalities), social relationships are understood as motivated by individual behavior. Of course, people do choose their friendships and it would be ludicrous to argue people do not exert choice and agency when choosing friends. However, by considering friendships as a predominantly individual choice, both researchers and individuals tend to ignore the ways in which friendships are structured by the conditions that profoundly shape relationships. Yet many aspects of friendships are organized by the contexts in which they occur including elements such as the place, institutional structure, other people, and historical period. In this study I followed students over four years and closely listened to how they talk and think about their relationships in school. I paid close attention to how conversations about friendships directed me to specific contexts in students’ lives that deeply influenced friendships.