Sociology of Personal Life

Sociology of Personal Life
Author: Vanessa May
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2019-01-25
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1352005018

What can sociology tell us about our personal lives, families and intimate relationships? This book explains how key theoretical perspectives and relevant contemporary research in the discipline can shed new light on even the most familiar areas of our everyday worlds. From friendships and pets, to political engagement and social legislation, the text shows how distinctions and connections can be drawn between our public and private lives. Each chapter explores a familiar topic that illustrates how individual relationships and lives can be shaped by social contexts, and how personal choices shape the wider social world. Using vivid case examples drawn from topical areas of debate, such as marriage rights and the role of social networking, the book is clearly laid out and easy to read. It gives useful explanations of theory and invaluable advice on how to carry out research on personal lives and relationships. This is essential reading for students of sociology interested in family, relationships and beyond. New to this Edition: - Pre-existing chapters have been fully re-written - Includes a number of new chapters on topics such as the body, home and personal life in public spaces. - Reformulated 'questions for discussion' at the end of each chapter.

Personal Life

Personal Life
Author: Carol Smart
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2013-05-20
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 074564564X

For more than a decade, Carol Smart has been at the forefront of debates about the sociology of the family. Yet she has become frustrated by the fixation of many commentators with the supposed decline of commitment, and even the decline of the possibility of family life. In this exciting new book, she puts forward a new way of understanding families and relationships. Breaking with conventional wisdom, her book offers a fresh conceptual approach to understanding personal life, which realigns empirical research with theoretical analysis. She gives emphasis to ideas of connectedness, relationality and embeddedness, rejecting many of the assumptions found in theories of individualisation and de-traditionalisation by authors such as Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, Bauman and Giddens. Instead, her approach prioritises the bonds between people, the importance of memory and cultural heritage, the significance of emotions (both positive and negative), how family secrets work and change over time, and the underestimated importance of things such as shared possessions or homes in the maintenance and memory of relationships. This ground-breaking text will be essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of families and personal relationships, and who wants to understand this most intimate area of social life.

A Sociology of Family Life

A Sociology of Family Life
Author: Deborah Chambers
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2021-11-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1509541373

Family relations are undergoing dramatic changes globally and locally. At the same time, certain features of family life endure. This popular book, now in a fully updated second edition, presents a comprehensive assessment of recent research on 'family', parenting, childhood and interpersonal ties. A Sociology of Family Life queries assumptions about a disintegration of 'the family' by revealing a remarkable persistence of commitment and reciprocity across cultures, within new as well as traditional family forms. Yet, while new kinds of intimate relationships such as 'friends as family' and LGBTQ+ intimacies become commonplace, such personal relationships can still be difficult to negotiate in the face of wider structural norms. With a focus on factors such as class, gender, race, ethnicity and sexuality, this new edition highlights inequalities that influence and curb families and personal life transnationally. Alongside substantial new material on cultural and digital transformations, the book features extensive updates on issues ranging from demography, migration, ageing and government policies to reproductive technologies, employment and care. With a global focus, and blending theory with real-life examples, this insightful and engaging book will remain indispensable to students across the social sciences.

Displaying Families

Displaying Families
Author: E. Dermott
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2011-08-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0230314309

This edited collection uses the concept of 'displaying families' as a new way to understand contemporary family and personal life, addressing how, in a world of fluid relationships, family life must not only be 'done' but also be 'seen to be done'.

Illuminating Social Life

Illuminating Social Life
Author: Peter Kivisto
Publisher: Pine Forge Press
Total Pages: 457
Release: 2011
Genre: History
ISBN: 1412978157

Illuminating Social Life has enjoyed increasing popularity with each edition. It is the only book designed for undergraduate teaching that shows today's students how classical and contemporary social theories can be used to shed new light on such topics as the internet, the world of work, fast food restaurants, shopping malls, alcohol use, body building, sales and service, and new religious movements.A perfect complement for the sociological theory course, it offers 13 original essays by leading scholars in the field who are also experienced undergraduate theory teachers. Substantial introductions by the editor link the applied essays to a complete review of the classical and modern social theories used in the book.

The Sociology of the Individual

The Sociology of the Individual
Author: Athanasia Chalari
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2016-11-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1473987679

What it socialization? What is interaction? What do we mean by identity? How can we explain the notion of self? What do we mean by intra-action? The Sociology of the Individual is an innovative and though-provoking sociological exploration of how the ideas of the individual and society relate. Expertly combining conceptual depth with clarity of style, Athanasia Chalari: explains the key sociological and psychological theories related to the investigation of the social and the personal analyses the ways that both sociology and psychology can contribute to a more complete understanding and theorising of everyday life uses a mix of international cases and everyday examples to encourage critical reflection. The Sociology of the Individual is an essential read for upper level undergraduates or postgraduates looking for a deeper and more sophisticated understanding of the connection between the social world and the inner life of the individual. Perfect for modules exploring the sociology of the self, self and society, and self and identity.

Political Sociology for a Globalizing World

Political Sociology for a Globalizing World
Author: Michael Drake
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2013-08-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0745638155

This accessible book addresses one of the twenty-first century's most important issues: the increasing lack of connection between political institutions and the social reality of our everyday lives. A gulf between popular expectations and formal politics has widened continually since the revolts against authority of 1968, the Eastern European revolutions of 1989 and the growth of new social movements. Today, popular disillusion with politics is ubiquitous. Enormous social transformations on a global scale since the 1970s have produced no fundamental change in what are considered normal political institutions such as the state, or in mainstream political ideologies and parties. This book provides tools to understand the apparent irrelevance of formal political institutions and practices to social life. In order to enable us to begin to rethink the relations between politics and society, Michael Drake ably synthesises the new theoretical developments that social transformations have produced, including the analysis of power, representation, social identities, social movements, sovereignty, statehood, globalization, revolution, risk and security. Ultimately, the book explores the emergent potentialities and problems of this new politics in a world of continuous transformation, where the parameters of the political are continuously shifting.

Qualitative Sociology as Everyday Life

Qualitative Sociology as Everyday Life
Author: Rosanna Hertz
Publisher: SAGE Publications, Incorporated
Total Pages: 304
Release: 1999-03-30
Genre: Reference
ISBN:

This volume examines the ways that sociological understanding can help with daily experiences, highlighting how everyday life can affect research agendas, and vice versa. The essays are organized around the notion of space - public spaces, family spaces, interior spaces, and workplaces.

Sociology

Sociology
Author: David M. Newman
Publisher: Pine Forge Press
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2010
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1412979420

This carefully edited companion anthology provides provocative, eye-opening examples of the practice of sociology in a well-edited, well-designed, and affordable format. It includes short articles, chapters, and excerpts that examine common everyday experiences, important social issues, or distinct historical events that illustrate the relationship between the individual and society. The new edition will provide more detail regarding the theory and/or history related to each issue presented. The revision will also include more coverage of global issues and world religions.

Feminist Sociology

Feminist Sociology
Author: Barbara Laslett
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 298
Release: 1997
Genre: Feminist theory
ISBN: 9780813524290

This collection of thirteen life stories recaptures the history of a political and intellectual movement that created feminist sociology as a field of inquiry. As the editors' introduction notes, the life history is a crucial tool for sociological thought. Life histories can be a bridge between individual experience and codified knowledge, between human agency and social structure. Life histories can enhance social theory by revealing categories of meaning usually submerged in the conventions of social science. The authors in this volume, all sociologists who have had great impact upon the field in which they write, show how personal relationships, experiences of inequality, and professional conflict and camaraderie interweave with the formation of social theory, political movements, and intellectual thought. The book makes a powerful impression upon anyone who has struggled with the relationship between social theory and everyday life. -- Accessible, lively articles that combine personal narrative with sociological theory. -- Contributors are some of the leading voices in feminist sociology.