Choice at the expense of convention: the new orthodoxy in the sociology of personal life and families

There is a new orthodoxy in the field that was once understood as the sociology of the family, and is increasingly understood as the sociology of 'personal life' or 'intimacy'. The orthodoxy highlights the open-endedness of intimate relations at the expense of the family as an institution; that is, choice at the expense of convention. It thereby directs attention to the full range of families, relationships, intimacies, sexualities, friendships and acquaintanceships. In doing so, it provides a powerful framework for understanding dramatic shifts in marriage, cohabitation and having children. Yet the orthodoxy comes at a cost. It struggles to conceptualize the institutional foundations of choice. It also routinely overlooks circumstances where some families, relationships, intimacies, sexualities, friendships and acquaintanceships are privileged over others, and prevail over others. This is exemplified in research around paternity uncertainty, inheritance and family business. Not only does the sociology of personal life and families overlook these areas. It concedes them to other disciplines and frameworks, sometimes grounded in biologistic and economistic understandings of human behaviour. The field requires more sophisticated ways of understanding the articulation between choice and convention. This involves renewed consideration of its institutional dimensions, in order to better grasp the enduring weight of convention and the normative dimensions of choice.