"One side, the functionalist school, sees gossip as a useful tool for enforcing social rules and maintaining group solidarity.
The other school sees gossip more as a hostile endeavor by individuals selfishly trying to advance their own interests.
-->But both schools have spent more time theorizing than observing gossipers in their natural habitats.
“Office gossip can be a form of reputational warfare,” Dr. Hallett says.
“It’s like informal gossip, but it’s richer and more elaborate.
There are more layers to it because people practice indirectness and avoidance"
www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/science/03tier.html