ABSTRACT
This chapter explores gossip in the family through the prism of socialization; it asks what children might learn from participating in a multiplicity of forms of narration about others during dinner conversations. Examining co-narrations about non-present others in the family reveals the limits of sociability within this 'gossipy' frame. In the family truly idle talk seems to emerge only under conditions of low emotional involvement, as in the case of celebrity talk, while in all other gossipy narration it is underscored by issues of personal, familial and cultural identity. The cultural difference between the groups in the degree of child initiation of gossipy events seems to stem from cultural differences in overall participation structures. Gossipy talk in the family sheds new light on two further issues related to idle-talk in general: the presence/absence of the party talked about, and the moral stance adopted by the family towards the new information passed.
