The Personal Life Perspective

The personal life perspective represents one of the most recent and significant developments in the sociology of the family. Developed primarily by Carol Smart (2007), it challenges the traditional approaches of functionalism, Marxism, and feminism, arguing that they are too focused on the structure and function of "the family" as an institution. Instead, the personal life perspective focuses on the meanings, relationships, and practices that matter to individuals in their everyday lives. This lesson explores the approach in depth and evaluates its contribution to family sociology for AQA A-Level Sociology (7192).

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Background: Why a New Perspective?

Traditional sociological perspectives on the family — functionalism, Marxism, feminism, and the New Right — share a common assumption: they treat "the family" as a clearly defined institution that can be analysed, evaluated, and compared. These perspectives ask questions like:

• What functions does the family perform? (Functionalism)
• Who does the family benefit? (Marxism, feminism)
• What is the ideal family form? (New Right)

Carol Smart (2007) argued that these approaches are fundamentally limited because:

1. They impose a top-down definition of "the family" that may not reflect how people actually experience their relationships.
2. They focus on structure (who lives with whom) rather than meaning (what relationships mean to the people involved).
3. They assume that "the family" is the most important set of relationships in people's lives, when in reality, friendships, pets, community ties, and relationships with the deceased may be equally or more significant.
4. They privilege heterosexual, biological family relationships and marginalise other forms of intimacy and connection.

Key Quote — Smart (2007): "The concept of 'family' may be a poor starting point for understanding personal relationships... it tends to impose a normative framework that excludes many of the relationships that matter most to people."

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Core Ideas of the Personal Life Perspective

1. Moving Beyond "The Family"

Smart argued that sociologists should move beyond the concept of "the family" (singular, with a definite article) and instead study personal life — the broad web of relationships, connections, and meanings that individuals construct and inhabit.

The personal life perspective:

• Does not begin with a definition of "the family" and then study how reality matches up
• Instead, it starts with individuals and explores the relationships that are important to them — which may or may not include biological kin
• It takes seriously relationships that traditional sociology has overlooked or dismissed

2. Chosen Families and Families of Choice

Building on the work of Weeks, Heaphy, and Donovan (2001), the personal life perspective emphasises the importance of chosen families — networks of friends, partners, and others who are not biologically related but who provide the love, support, and sense of belonging traditionally associated with "family."

This is particularly significant for:

• LGBTQ+ individuals who may have been rejected by their biological families and have created alternative support networks
• Migrants who are separated from biological kin and build new communities of support
• Elderly people who may rely on friends and neighbours as much as — or more than — biological relatives

Key Concept — Chosen Families: Close, committed relationships based on choice rather than biology or marriage. They perform the emotional and practical functions traditionally associated with "the family" but are not recognised by traditional sociological frameworks.

3. Same-Sex Intimacies

The personal life perspective takes same-sex relationships seriously as a subject of study in their own right — not as deviant, alternative, or marginal, but as equally valid forms of personal life.

Weeks et al. (2001) found that same-sex couples often develop highly egalitarian relationships characterised by:

• Negotiation rather than assumed gender roles
• Commitment based on choice rather than legal or religious obligation
• Flexible domestic arrangements — housework and childcare are distributed through discussion rather than gendered expectations

Dunne (1999) studied lesbian couples with children and found that they achieved a more equal division of domestic labour than heterosexual couples. Because there was no assumption about who should do what (no "wife" role), domestic tasks were negotiated on the basis of preference, skill, and time rather than gender.

These findings challenge both functionalist assumptions about the necessity of instrumental/expressive roles and feminist assumptions about the inevitability of gender inequality in domestic relationships.

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4. The Significance of Pets

One of the more surprising — and often misunderstood — aspects of the personal life perspective is its argument that pets can be part of personal life and can function as family members.

Charles and Davies (2008) found that for many people, especially those living alone or with limited kin networks, pets are a significant source of companionship, emotional support, and daily routine. People describe their pets as "part of the family" and grieve deeply when they die.

Tipper (2011) studied children's views of family and found that children often include pets — alongside parents, siblings, grandparents, and friends — when asked to draw or describe their family. This suggests that children's understanding of "family" is broader and more inclusive than the definitions used by sociologists.

From the personal life perspective, the key point is not that pets are "the same as" human family members, but that the relationships people form with their animals are real, meaningful, and worthy of sociological attention. Traditional family sociology has no space for such relationships — the personal life perspective does.

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5. Relationships with the Dead

The personal life perspective also takes seriously people's ongoing relationships with dead relatives. Traditional sociology treats death as the end of a social relationship, but Smart argues that the dead continue to play an active role in people's personal lives.

Smart (2007) found that: