THEORIES OF THE FAMILY - Personal Life Perspective

What is the Personal Life Perspective?

A structuralist view of society sees individuals as entirely shaped by the way society is structured and organised e.g. socialising individuals into shared norms and values that dictate how they will behave.

What do interactionists believe?

They argue we have some choice in creating our family relationships, saying that instead of focusing on the supposed functions of the family, instead we should look at the meanings people attach to their relationships and situations.

What do interactionist theories think about the family?

Argue that to understand the family we need to focus on the meanings its members give to their relationships and situations. It argues that we have some choice in creating family relationships e.g. Personal Life Perspective.

What do structuralist theories believe about the family?

They assume that families are passive puppets manipulated by society. They assume that the nuclear family is the dominant family type, tending to focus on the ‘functions’ the family performs e.g. Feminism, Marxism, Functionalism.

How does the Personal Life Perspective take a bottoms up approach?

It emphasises the meanings that individual family members hold and how these shape their actions and relationships. It takes a wider view of the family, drawing attention to relationships that are not traditionally defined as family.

What was Nordqvist and Smart’s (2014) study?

In-depth interviews with families of donor conceived children, talking to both lesbian and heterosexual parents. In this research, they found the issue of blood and genes raised a range of feelings, some parents emphasising the importance of social relationships over genetic ones - it is the time and effort put into being a mother that matters.

There were additional problems for lesbian couples involving equality and how the donor might not be treated as ‘real’ parents