From obligations to negotiations: reciprocity and reflexivity in informal financial support

摘要

This article examines the processes of informal support exchange in wider social network relationships with a particular focus on conditions that are of significance for financial support. The intention, with a point of departure in 24 qualitative interviews with single adults in Sweden, is to present an interactionist model to explain how such support is formed and how it can be analysed and understood. The article shows that such support is by no means purely dependent on financial considerations and resources. The types of relationship and the specific situations in which individuals are placed in positions that demand reflection upon, and communication about, their need for support, can be likened to a negotiation and are of equal importance. Furthermore, the provision of informal support is also influenced by moral and social norms relating to responsibility, care obligations, self-sufficiency and independence, which are, amongst other things, embedded in our social political system.