Resource Details

Title Recovering the Social: Revisiting the more than Personal of Personal Life
Media Type Microsoft Document
Category Conference Programme
Description Transcript of the plenary by Lynn Jamieson at the BSA Annual Conference 2017. British sociology has a rich tradition of studying personal life; particularly families but also friendships and sexual relationships often illuminating intersections of history and biography, of public issues and private troubles. Core theoretical issues to the discipline about the self and responsibility for others are the stuff of personal life. The topic area has provided powerful accounts of how intersecting inequalities become folded into people’s views and conduct. New developments in the sociology of emotions potentially further strengthen the theoretical resources. Yet, like all specialist areas, the sociology of families, relationships and personal life is often peripheral to sociologists working on other topic. The literature on personal life offers its own stories of social change that are not always taken up in biggerpicture accounts. I make the case for the ains from knowing something of the story so far, keeping interchange going between agendas in this topic area and wider social theory. I also argue for incorporating a stronger focus on personal relationships into new studies of pressing global issues and social change. In particular, I make the case for acknowledging the agentic ‘world-making’ aspect of personal life when crafting research on the cluster of profound global challenges around sustainability and climate change, and in analysis of the socio-political shifts underpinning voting for Brexit and Trump.
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Keywords lynn jamieson, plenary, transcript, 2017, personal life, intersecting inequalities, relationships
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