ABSTRACT
The modem friendship ideal is of course far from universal, in scope and in intensity, and why this is so suggests something about the conditions that sustain it. The modern friendship requires the very impersonality of administration, contractualism and monetized exchange over against which it is culturally distinguished. For the English people studied, such differences created greater difficulties for friendship. Because friendship was basically understood as relationship in which people could 'be themselves', the process of personal disclosure required common notions of when and with whom to reveal the 'true' self, notions. Friendship did at times develop between maids and mistresses but was most often an element of their narratives. As such, friendship referred to the affection, care and consideration that both sets of women valued in their work relationship. In each situation, friendship as a narrative element achieved different effects. For the Brazilian maids and mistresses studied, friendship was believed to be a mechanism with which to establish trust.
