ABSTRACT
The chapter will review and synthesize available literature on the positive role that friendship plays in the quality of a person's life. Interpersonal relationships have been a subject of great interest to psychologists, sociologists, health researchers, and labour economists. The benefits to physical and mental health that individuals enjoy from close friendships are well documented in the literature. Friendship provides a source of social capital, a support system, and companionship for leisure time. People who have friends at work are likely to be more productive and to stay longer with their current employer. Given the positive impacts that friendship can have in people's lives, it is time to consider whether the state has a role to play in encouraging interpersonal friendships within society. Indeed, the debates that accompanied the legalization of same-sex marriage in many countries illustrated that the state has long been involved in granting or withholding status to people's most intimate relationships.
