lationships and, in particular, to the ways in which the articulation of
values between home and school can be crucial in affecting a child's
response to the schooling process. Studies of deviance also emphasize
the ways in which informal relationships of different types influence the
individual's actions. Whether the perspective taken is, for example, a
subcultural or a labelling one, group membership and informal associ-
ation are seen as significant in the creation of deviant identities and
behaviour. So too, from the famous Hawthorne experiments in the
1930s onwards, studies of the workplace have recognized that informal
solidarities between co-workers play a part in shaping their responses
to a range of workplace issues. Similarly, in studies of local communi-
ties it is inappropriate to focus exclusively on formal organizations.
What also needs to be considered are the sets of personal ties which
bind people together, how people use these to achieve their different
ends, and how these relationships impinge on more formal aspects of
community structure.

Many more examples from different areas within sociology could be
given here. You may choose to think of others for yourself and reflect on
how the informal relationships of different sorts which people sustain
affect their behaviour in those spheres. The general point to recognize is
that in many areas of social activity, informal relationships actually play
a major part in shaping people's attitudes and behaviour and giving
meaning to their lives. These relationships matter. They matter at a
personal level, but they also matter more widely in terms of social or-
ganization. Within contemporary society, formal organizations and
bureaucracies have, without doubt, become increasingly significant.
Yet while the character and tempo of modern social life is governed by
their operation -- think how much of our lives are ruled by the time-
tables which bureaucracies of different sorts set -- in many respects, it
is the informal relationships we have which make all this possible. For
as well as providing us with a sense of self and individuality, the various
informal relationships which we are involved in also enable us to navi-
gate our way around the demands and contingencies of everyday living.
Far from being social 'luxuries' of little sociological consequence, these
ties are, to use Jerrome's analogy, 'the cement which binds together the
bricks of social structure' ( 1984: 715).

The study of informal ties is thus too important to leave solely to
psychology. While psychologists have every right to be concerned with
personal relationships -- and the development of the 'new psychology
of personal relationships' over the last fifteen years is particularly wel-
come in its emphasis on relationships rather than individual person-
ality ( Duck, 1990) -- sociology too, with its different questions,

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