ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the way in which interviewees reason about their decisions, and describes how they “agree” upon them. It argues that the partnership code is not a set of principles for prescribing choices or resolving disputes, but rather a set of “cultural resources” for regulating economic and interpersonal behaviour in households. The chapter examines the way in which interviewees deploy cultural resources to reason about economics and family life in answer to the questions, and what it takes in turn for us as interviewers to be “satisfied” or “convinced” by their answers. It looks at how couples use a self-elaborating code to regulate everyday life and reach “joint decisions”.
