Summary of "The Waltz of Sociability"
Ray Fitzsimmons
Instructor: Haida Antolick
ENGL 199W: Introduction to University Writing
June 9, 2013
Assignment 2 – Summary of The Waltz of Sociability: Intimacy, Dislocation, and Friendship in a Quebec High School Vered Amit – Talai indulges her readers with a commonly accepted phenomenon of Western civilization in which adolescents rarely transition into adulthood with their childhood friends through the experiences of a group of high school students in The Waltz of Sociability: Intimacy, Dislocation, and Friendship in a Quebec High School. It is assumed that peer relationships developed during adolescence are of considerable importance but only temporary. The social and cultural ramifications of this assumption are a recurring theme in this article. Amit-Talai takes a more personal approach towards investigating this assumption rather than the typical sociological and anthropological approach which view these temporary relationships merely “as an aspect of life cycle development” (Amit-Talai 233). Amit-Talai dismantles these ways of thinking by reevaluating four common features associated with high school students teetering upon the precipice of graduation and subsequent adulthood; “(1) that true friendships are private, free-floating relationships; (2) that adolescents have more time for developing such friendships and fewer competing commitments; (3) that friendship takes on a special intensity in adolescence; (4) that adolescent friendships are necessarily transient as a function of life cycle changes” (Amit-Talai 236). The development of friends during adolescence is crucial to one’s social status and general development. Amit-Talai shows that the time frame in which an adolescent has in his or her day for developing such friends is quite short. The amount of spare time one has due to his or her obligations, the constant social suppression from authoritative figures, the segregation of cohorts, intimacy, and geographical displacement all play a role
Instructor: Haida Antolick
ENGL 199W: Introduction to University Writing
June 9, 2013
Assignment 2 – Summary of The Waltz of Sociability: Intimacy, Dislocation, and Friendship in a Quebec High School Vered Amit – Talai indulges her readers with a commonly accepted phenomenon of Western civilization in which adolescents rarely transition into adulthood with their childhood friends through the experiences of a group of high school students in The Waltz of Sociability: Intimacy, Dislocation, and Friendship in a Quebec High School. It is assumed that peer relationships developed during adolescence are of considerable importance but only temporary. The social and cultural ramifications of this assumption are a recurring theme in this article. Amit-Talai takes a more personal approach towards investigating this assumption rather than the typical sociological and anthropological approach which view these temporary relationships merely “as an aspect of life cycle development” (Amit-Talai 233). Amit-Talai dismantles these ways of thinking by reevaluating four common features associated with high school students teetering upon the precipice of graduation and subsequent adulthood; “(1) that true friendships are private, free-floating relationships; (2) that adolescents have more time for developing such friendships and fewer competing commitments; (3) that friendship takes on a special intensity in adolescence; (4) that adolescent friendships are necessarily transient as a function of life cycle changes” (Amit-Talai 236). The development of friends during adolescence is crucial to one’s social status and general development. Amit-Talai shows that the time frame in which an adolescent has in his or her day for developing such friends is quite short. The amount of spare time one has due to his or her obligations, the constant social suppression from authoritative figures, the segregation of cohorts, intimacy, and geographical displacement all play a role
Cited: Amit-Talai, Vered. “The Waltz of Sociability: Intimacy, Dislocation, and Friendship in a Quebec High School. Academic Reading: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines. Ed. Janet Giltrow. Toronto: Broadview Press, 2002. Print.