Professor Gary Fine

Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, USA

As a consequence of their size and fragility, small groups depend on cohesion. Central to group continuation are occasions of collective pleasure that encourage attachment. These times are popularly labelled “fun.” While groupness can be the cause of fun, Prof Fine emphasizes the effects of fun, as understood by participants. Shared enjoyment, built upon the availability of time and space, creates conditions for communal identification. These moments serve as commitment devices building affiliation, modelling positive relations, and moderating interpersonal tension. Further, they encourage narration, providing an appealing past, an assumed future, and a sense of groupness. The rhetoric of fun supports interactional smoothness in the face of potential ruptures. Relying on a set of extended ethnographies, Prof Fine argues that both the experience and recall of fun bolsters group stability.

Please note this event was rescheduled from 8th March 2018.