ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines a 'hierarchy of exchanges' characterising a range of relationships between migrants. It shows that highly valued and exclusive activities and transactions performed by close kinsmen or friends encompass also the lesser sets of expectations constitutive of relations between Pakistani acquaintances in the neighbourhood or workplace. The friendships of migrants like Hamid, from an urban educated background, are characterised by an ethos of trust, mutual aid and extravagant generosity. The friendships of migrants like Hamid, from an urban educated background, are characterised by an ethos of trust, mutual aid and extravagant generosity. The developmental cycle model may, however, provide useful insight into the changes occuring in the social networks of urban labour migrants. The reasons for the close-knittedness of migrants' networks appear therefore to be fourfold: their origin in bachelor cliques, their ability to trace connections in Pakistan, the tendency towards large-scale hospitality, and the mixing of business and leisure.
