The personal life perspective

Question 1

what is personal life perspective?

Answer 1

interactionist perspective that makes two criticisms of structural perspective
That sociologists should study the family from each perspective of individuals and focus what family means to each person.

Question 2

what are the two key ideas of [personal life perspective?

Answer 2

• They say other perspectives only define family from a traditional standpoint and ignore the increase in diversity
• They also say that structural theories just assume each family is passively manipulated by the system at hand rather then thinking of each family being made of individuals

Question 3

what does Carol smart say?

Answer 3

rejects assumptions by other sociologists

• focuses on bond between people and importance of memory and cultural heritage and the significance of both positive and negative functions
• draws attention to a range of other connections that aren’t counted as traditional family

Question 4

Give some examples of connections and relationships outside the family that Smart is referring to?

Answer 4

• close family friends that aren’t related by blood like “aunties”
• friends which act like siblings
• passed away companions that live on in memory
• even pets

Question 5

what are some evaluations of personal life perspective?

Answer 5

• taking to broad a view, we ignore or invalidate actual blood and marital relationships