Abstracts.

The article presents abstracts of various papers published in the March 1, 2004 issue of the journal "Current Sociology." In one of the paper "Cultures of Intimacy and Care Beyond 'the Family': Personal Life and Social Change in the Early 21st Century," by Sasha Roseneil and Shelley Budgeon, authors argue that if sociologists are to understand the current state and likely future, of intimacy and care, one should decentre the family and the heterosexual couple in there intellectual imaginaries. The authors draw upon their own research on the most individualized sector of the population, adults who are not living with a partner. They explore contemporary cultures of intimacy and care among this group through a number of case studies and argue that two interrelated processes characterize these cultures: centring on friendship and decentring sexual relationships. Another paper "Peer-Shared Households, Quasi-Communes and Neo-Tribes," by Sue Heath explores the nature of the relationships that exist between young people living in such households. The article considers the conditions under which some shared households may move beyond neo-tribalism to take on the characteristics of quasi-commune, marked by the institutionalization of friendship within a domestic setting.