personal life perspective on family

• personal life 4 criticisms on structural theories views on family

  research is ethnocentric - focus on white middle class families

  assumes nuclear family is dominant type

  portray families and passive and solely influenced by external societal factors

  ignore broader social trends and meaningful non-familial relationships
• personal life criticism of postmodernist view on family

  argue the view that people can make their own choices free from societal pressure and influence is idealistic, and individuals are still influenced by complex societal pressures and previous relationship experiences
• is personal life a structural or postmodern approach


  neither - lies inbetween
• SMART - connectedness thesis

  people form meaningful connections with friends, colleagues and pets

  these bonds can be stronger than family relations as they are based on shared experiences rather than just bloodlines

  people are free to construct their own individual family network, but the choices they make are influenced by family history, social class, ethnicity, expectations etc
• smart - 4 concept roles important to individuals and their relationships with others

  role of memory

  role of biography

  role of embeddedness

  role of relationality
• smart - role of memory and importance to individuals and their relationships

  bonds formed on basis of shared memories

  memories of certain life events can be painful or joyful

  people form different relationships with individuals with whom they share different memories
• smart - role of biography and importance to individuals and their relationships


  each relationship has its own individual history and aspects which can determine the formation and importance of that relationship

  shared history in education, work, travel etc can often create stronger connections than blood relations
• smart - role of embeddedness and importance to individuals and their relationships

  strength of a relationship depends on social arrangements and time spent together

  people are often closer to a friend they see every day compared to a family member they see occasionally
• smart - role of relationality and importance to individuals and their relationships

  relationships nature and health are important

  people generally like to avoid conflict so surround themselves with like--minded individuals

  individuals may experience constant conflict with families and search for refuge among friends and colleagues
• may - increase in single person households

  increasing number of single person households and changes in society results in people seeking both physical and emotion support from outside their families and creating their own personal networks

  may include family members, friends, colleagues, pets etc
• weeks - same-sex couples and family diversity


  construction of homosexuality is abnormal and the establishment of gender roles led to the nuclear family led by heterosexual couples being considered the only legitimate family form for a long time
• tipper - pets


  studied children's evaluation of family relationships and found kids often regarded pets as part of the family
• positives of personal life perspective

  shows independent ways in which people establish and define 'family' relationships

  recognises relatedness is not always positive
• evaluation of personal life perspective

  too broad a view

  looks at a wide range of relationships so ignores what is special about blood / marriage based relationships

  descriptive rather than analytic ?
• BAUMAN, BECK, GIDDENS, BECK-GERNSHEIM - individualisation thesis


  process by which traditional social relationships, bonds, values and customs that used to strongly regulate people's lives in the narrowest detail have been losing more of their meaning and influence

  people have more options, choice and opportunities to decide for themselves how to shape their lives
• bauman - individualisation thesis


  in a world of growing individualisation, uncertainty and constant change, kinship networks are frail and human bonds are weak, and people are constantly searching for security

  this involves new ways of living their personal lives, leading to growth in a wide diversity of family and personal living arrangements
• beck-gernsheim - individualisation thesis


  underlying causes of growing individualisation lie in developments in modern medicine such as contraception and artificial insemination, which enable sexuality and reproduction to be separate entities

  growth of individualisation has meant it is no longer clear who or what is part of the family:

  • people talk of partners > husbands and wives
  • artificial insemination, sperm banks and surrogacy = concept of parenthood unclear
  • family names no longer denote a family as people may keep, change or double barrel names