In this article, I present, first, a composite definition of conviviality whose constitutive components are conceived in terms of degrees rather than as present-or-absent conditions. Next, I offer a preliminary list of macro-, micro- and individual-level circumstances which co-shape conviviality into different arrangements and intensities. Within the framework of the structuration theory which informs my discussion, I then identify the characteristics of cultures of conviviality as different from the orientations and practices of the individuals who (re)create them, and I propose a distinction between the conditions contributing to the emergence of cultures of conviviality and the circumstances responsible for their endurance over time. In the last part of the article, I identify different goals of case-based investigations and propose some strategies of comparative analysis of the contributing circumstances and different forms and ‘contents’ of conviviality, and I illustrate it with examples taken from my previous studies of ground-level multiculturalism in different locations.