Close Personal Relationships at Work and With Kin: Testing an Urban Subculture Theory Model

Abstract

Urban subculture theory asserts that living in urban areas provides opportunities for the establishment of social worlds based more on personal interest than on either kinship or traditional affiliations, resulting in urbanites' reduced involvement with kin through selective integration of family into social networks. Based on this theory, and findings supporting it, a model predicting strength of kinship ties was constructed to test its usefulness in predicting the inclusion of kin among individuals' closest personal relationships. At the same time, the model was used to look at the relationship between kinship ties and ties to co-workers, and to test whether there is a work friendship - kinship tie trade-off. Attention was given to differences between age-groups, and to whether kinship ties and co-worker friendships, including any trade-off between the two types of relationships, vary by age, as an indicator of life cycle stage. Regional differences in the application of the model were also considered. Results using a nation-wide sample of workers in the United States suggested that, contrary to urban subculture theory, closeness to kin tends to increase as residence becomes more urban. However, in separate regional and age-group analyses the model did appear to have some application as a predtctor of close kinship ties and ties with co-workers, and the workplace did appear to serve as a source of friendships which offset the importance of kinship ties for some age-groups cross-regionally, and across age-groups in some regions of the country. Overall, results suggested that the factors predicting close ties with kin differ for different age-groups, and vary across different regions of the country.