Ageing in isolated rural settings : a sociability network approach Based on a survey of aged people living in two socially contrasting rural areas - the Creuse and Ardèche départements - this article focuses on the way systems of sociability and solidarity take shape among elderly people living in rural isolation. Sociability and mutual aid in family, professional and neighbourly relationships are characteristic of people who have never left their region of birth. On the other hand, sociability as practised by residents having moved or returned to the area on reaching retirement age is more dispersed, more segmented, and separate from mutual aid relationships.
