The Personal Life Perspective and Late Modern Family Diversity
The personal life perspective, associated with Carol Smart, criticises structural theories of the family, functionalist, Marxist and feminist alike, for assuming family life can be read off from abstract social structures, and argues instead for starting from how people themselves experience and give meaning to their close relationships, including relationships structural theories often overlook, such as close friendships or connections with former partners. Morgan's related concept of 'family practices' shifts the focus from family as a fixed structure to family as something people actively 'do' through everyday actions, cooking a shared meal or arranging childcare, rather than something they simply 'are' by virtue of their household type. Finch develops this into 'family display', arguing family relationships must not only be practised privately but actively displayed and communicated to others in ways that are recognised as 'family-like', since the meaning of an action, such as gift-giving, depends on it being understood by others as a family act. Giddens's individualisation thesis argues late modern relationships increasingly take the form of the 'pure relationship', continuing only for as long as both partners find it personally satisfying rather than because of external obligation, tradition or economic dependency, a shift he links to greater 'plastic sexuality', sexual and romantic choice increasingly separated from reproduction.
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Method
- State the personal life perspective's core criticism precisely: structural theories, functionalist, Marxist and feminist, assume what a relationship means from its position in a wider structure, rather than asking how the people in it actually experience and define it.
- Use Smart's point about relationships beyond the traditional family boundary: the personal life perspective deliberately includes relationships structural approaches tend to ignore, such as close friendships, or a continuing bond with a former partner or step-relative, since these can matter as much to someone's sense of family as a blood or marriage tie.
- Distinguish Morgan's 'family practices' from a structural definition of family: family becomes something people actively do through everyday, repeated actions, rather than a fixed category someone simply belongs to by household type.
- Use Finch's 'family display' concept precisely: it is not enough for an action to be a private family practice, since it must also be performed or communicated in a way that others recognise as a family act, for it to count as maintaining and confirming family relationships socially.
- Explain Giddens's 'pure relationship' and 'plastic sexuality' together: relationships are increasingly maintained only for as long as they satisfy both partners rather than through tradition, obligation or economic need, and this coincides with sexuality becoming a matter of individual choice and identity rather than being tied to reproduction.
- When an item gives an example of a personal relationship or family action, identify whether it is best analysed as a family practice, a family display, or an instance of the pure relationship, before building the wider argument.
- Evaluate the personal life perspective against structural approaches: it usefully captures diversity and meaning that a fixed structural definition misses, but critics argue it can understate how much structural inequalities, such as gendered patterns in who does unpaid care work, still shape even highly individualised relationships.
- For a 20-mark essay, use the item's specific relationship or practice to open, then set the personal life perspective's emphasis on meaning against a structural theory's emphasis on wider social forces, closing with a judgement on which better explains the item's evidence.
Worked example
Item A: A woman in her sixties described her closest 'family' as including her adult daughter, her daughter's former partner with whom she remained close after their divorce, and a lifelong friend she called her 'sister in all but blood', while noting she rarely saw her own biological brother, who lived nearby but with whom she had little in common. Applying material from Item A and your knowledge, analyse two ways the personal life perspective explains patterns of close relationships like these. (10 marks)
- Identify the item's key detail: the woman's closest relationships cross conventional family boundaries (a former son-in-law, a close friend) while excluding a biological relative she rarely sees.
- Build the first way from the item using Smart's core argument: the personal life perspective explains this by looking at the meaning and quality of relationships as people themselves experience them, rather than assuming family closeness follows automatically from a blood or marriage tie, which structural approaches would emphasise more heavily.
- Build the second way from the item using Morgan's family practices: calling her friend a 'sister in all but blood' and maintaining an active relationship with her former son-in-law shows family being actively constructed and maintained through ongoing practice and choice, not simply inherited from formal structure.
- Add development: this contrasts with a functionalist or traditional definition of family, which would likely centre the biological brother she rarely sees as closer 'family' than a friend or former in-law, showing the explanatory value of starting from personal meaning rather than structural category.
- Check both points are drawn directly from the item's detail rather than a general account of the personal life perspective.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Q1What is the personal life perspective's main criticism of structural theories of the family?Show answer
Answer: That they assume family meaning can be read off from a person's structural position, such as their household type, rather than examining how people themselves experience and define their close relationships.
Q2Explain Morgan's concept of 'family practices'.Show answer
Answer: The idea that family is something people actively do through everyday actions, such as sharing meals or arranging childcare, rather than a fixed category someone simply belongs to.
Q3What does Finch mean by 'family display'?Show answer
Answer: The idea that family relationships must not only be practised privately but also actively communicated in ways recognised by others as family-like, for the action to confirm and maintain the relationship socially.
Q4Explain Giddens's concept of the 'pure relationship'.Show answer
Answer: A relationship maintained only because both partners find it personally satisfying, rather than continuing because of tradition, external obligation or economic dependency.
Q5What does Giddens mean by 'plastic sexuality'?Show answer
Answer: Sexual and romantic choice becoming separated from reproduction, allowing individuals greater freedom to shape their sexual and relationship identity as a matter of personal choice.
Q6Give one criticism of the personal life perspective.Show answer
Answer: Critics argue it can understate how much structural inequalities, such as gendered patterns in who does unpaid care work, continue to shape relationships even where individuals experience and describe them as freely chosen.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a A Level Sociology exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Outline two relationships the personal life perspective includes that traditional family theories often overlook.
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Item B: A man described that every Sunday he video-calls his adult children, who live in different cities, and that the family has an agreed rule that at least one photo from the week must be shared in a family group chat, which he said 'keeps us feeling like a family even though we're not in the same house'. Applying material from Item B, analyse two ways this pattern illustrates Finch's concept of family display. (10 marks)
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Item C: A study of adults in their twenties and thirties found many described their romantic relationships as lasting 'as long as it works for both of us', with several having ended long relationships they described as comfortable but no longer personally fulfilling. The same study found most respondents remained close to a small circle of friends from school or university, describing them as 'family I chose', despite living in different cities from their biological relatives. Applying material from Item C and your knowledge, evaluate the usefulness of the personal life perspective for understanding family and relationships today. (20 marks)
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