1982/03/01 by Eviatar Zerubavel
paper · doi:10.1525/si.1982.5.1.97
This paper revolves around the informational aspect of social relationships, attempting to identify the fundamental social patterning of personal information and to establish the basic conceptual framework necessary for analyzing this topic from a sociological perspective. The paper explores the major parameters of personal information (amount, scope, and depth), relating them to sociological variables such as social distance, social power, privacy, and intimacy. It then examines the “information preserve”, a quasi‐spatial territory of the self, discussing various forms of defending it (such as discretion, concealment, and fabrication), as well as ways in which it is protected by others (with a particular emphasis on confidentiality and tact).