Friendship Repertoires and Care Arrangement: A Praxeological Approach

Friends are important companions and serve as sources for diverse dimensions of social support, including elderly care. Rather than researching populations that have already established care arrangements including friends, the author seeks to understand relationship systems with a focus on the inner logic friendship to consequently describe and understand involved care arrangements, be it with family members or friends. To illustrate the diversity of friendship repertoires, qualitative interviews with older adult Germans are analyzed regarding cognitive concepts of friendships in contrast to familiar ties as well as social practices around relationship systems. While some repertoires successfully include chosen ties in their care arrangements, others not only focus on family, they do not wish to receive care from friends. The article's praxeological approach highlights the need to reflect habitual differences when thinking about elderly informal care arrangements.