ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the underlying similarities and variations in the rules of relevance applied by different groups of people to these relationships. The range of relationships that exist between parents and their adult children is wide, as numerous kinship studies have testified. The visits are simply a way of expressing concern and interest. The activities engaged in tend to be limited to ones which take place in each other’s home, and many aspects of life are considered inappropriate to, and outside, the realm of these relationships. Distance, of course, affects the frequency and duration of interaction. Middle-class sons tend to be geographically mobile and consequently visit their parents at weekends or during holiday periods, maintaining contact by phone or letter in the meantime. Essentially working-class females are likely to include their mothers in their routine activities.
