4. Personal Life Perspective Flashcards
1
Q
- Rejection of Structuralism
A
- Sociologists influenced by interactionist / postmodernist perspectives reject the structural view of the other theories.
- Structural theories ignore fact that we have choice in creating our family relationships.
2
Q
- Sociology of Personal Life
A
- To understand families, must start from the point of views of the individuals concerned and the meanings they give to their relationships.
- PLP takes a ‘bottom up’ approach as opposed to the ‘top down’ structuralist approach.
3
Q
- Beyond Ties of Blood and Marriage
A
- PLP takes a wider view of relationships than just traditional ‘family’ relationships based on blood and marriage.
- By focusing on people’s meanings, PLP draws attention to a range of other relationships that are important to people.
Relationships that are important to people:
- Relationships with friends: ‘like a sister to me’
- Fictive kin: close friends who are treated like family
- Gay / Lesbian ‘chosen families’: supportive network of close friends, ex-partners and others.
- Relationships with dead relatives: who live on in memories
- Relationships with pets: Tipper: Children see pets as ‘part of the family’
4
Q
- Donor-Conceived Children
A
- Nordqvist and Smart: issue of blood and genes raised many feelings
- Erin: (mother of egg donor-conceived child) defined being a mum as time and effort not the cells that start it off.
- However, different appearance led parents to question the donor’s identity
5
Q
- Evaluation
A
- By including a range of different relationships, we ignore what is special about relationships based on blood and marriage.
- Despite rejection of functionalism, it sees intimate relationships as performing functions of providing a sense of belonging etc.
6
Q
Summary
A
- Rejection of Structuralism
- Sociology of Personal Life
- Beyond Ties of Blood and Marriage
- Donor-Conceived Children
- Evaluation
