ABSTRACT
Brain’s recent (1977) anthropological essay concluded that friendship is a universal characteristic of human society. Brain noted that anthropologists have given primary importance to kinship networks, and “having made a ritual obeisance to the importance of emotional ties outside structured kin groups have apparently despaired of describing them in detail [p. 5]”. Nonetheless, in many societies the bonds of friendship have powerful rights and obligations that often transcend even kinship bonds. In many societies, best friendships that originate in childhood, including male/female pairs, continue unabated with a special character throughout the lifetime, even after the marriage of both people to others.
