Sociology 1 - personal life perspective Flashcards
what is personal life perspective about
people are free to construct their own families and there is no specific definition of ‘the family’. PLP is about the networks that connect people e.g.
fictive kin - close friends treated as family e.g. mums friends as aunty
Gay & lesbian ‘chosen families’ - supportive network of close friends, ex partners and others non biologically related
relationships with dead relatives - memories that continue to shape identities and affect actions
life course definition
how a family changes over time e.g. nuclear > lone parent > reconstituted > cohabiting
factors affecting this : finances, parental relationship, culture/location, sexuality,
What does Smart discuss
sociology of family is ethnocentric - focused on white m/c family
sociologists should focus research on how people can develop meaningful relationships with those outside of biological family such as friends
- she prioritises bonds between people, importance of cultural heritage, memories, emotions and how family secrets work and change over time
Smart & Nordgvist - lesbian families x donors
researched donor conceived families and found that the idea of blood and genes raised a range of feelings for members of those particular families
