ABSTRACT
This chapter considers one of the core problems in studying patterns of sociability: the problem of how to analyse individual sociable relationships. The term ‘pattern of sociability’ simply refers to the composite organisation of those sociable relationships that the individual sustains in his social life. The sociological stance most compatible with these aims is symbolic interactionism. The development of relationships can be seen as the ebb and flow of rules of relevance and the gradual change of what they cover. The rules of relevance of any particular relationship can be seen as being constructed against this backcloth. The concept of rules of relevance is somewhat wider than this and denotes the way the relationship is cognitively structured by the participants. The whole range of situations in which the participants consider it appropriate to meet each other must be analysed, and not only those one or two in which they happen to see one another most.
