The Personal Life Perspective On The Family✔️ Flashcards
What do they argue?
That all of the sociological theories on the family suffer from weaknesses as they tend to assume that the traditional nuclear family is dominant and the norm - they ignore the diversity of contemporary families.
What else do they say about what other sociologists assume?
That families and their members are simply passive puppets manipulated by the structure of the society to perform certain functions e.g. to perform a value consensus / Capitalism.
How can we understand the family today according to the Personal Life Perspective?
To understand the family, we must focus on the meanings its members give to their relationships and situations rather than the family’s supposed functions.
As well as taking a bottom up approach to relationships, how else do Interactionists view the family?
They say that Socialisation is more important than your genetic family.
You can have relationships with friends that may be classed as family, relationships with dead relatives, your pets, gay and lesbian chosen families and fictive Kin (close friends who can be treated as relatives ‘auntie’)
What did NORDQVIST and SMART find in their research on donor conceived children?
That some parents emphaised the importance of social relationships over genetic ones to form family bonds e.g. one woman said that the work you put into raising a child makes you a mother, not the moment of conception.
How can the Personal Life Perspective be criticised?
As it takes too broad a view by including s wide range of different kinds of personal relationships - they ignore what is special about relationships based on blood and marriage.
