Thinking Allowed - 23/09/2009

Many of us will exchange intimate details of our lives with our hairdesser or chat to the person on the same train platform as us every morning on the way to work, but we probably don't think of either as a friend. Laurie Taylor discusses the role of acquaintances, and why the people who are neither friend nor stranger are incredibly important. He talks to sociologist David Morgan and anthroplogist Henrietta Moore about the role of acquaintances in our lives and finds out why, without them, the very fabric of society could break down. Also in the programme, why more than one million tea rooms opened in the early 20th century and gave American women their first taste of business and financial freedom.