Druzhba i rodstvo v kvartalakh Tbilisi: imperativy i praktiki

Abstract

Friendship, on the one hand, is a cultural universal; on the other, its notions and ideals vary from society to society, and friendship meets different requirements. Teenagers cluster into alternative milieus, communities, and subcultures, hoping to get rid of control and surveillance of their parents and adults, and thus attain the desired freedom among their friends. The article takes the case of urban teen communities in Tbilisi to examine the ways in which friendship relationships may be comparable to kinship relationships, and their norms may be subjected to ideology; as well as the ways in which friendship, being associated with notions of male honor and turning into an instrument of social control, may imply not only interpersonal but essentially wider social relationships, and the notion of “friend” may change from a “role” to “status”.