Q: Analyze critically David Morgan’s views on family practices.​

Model Answer:

David Morgan shifted sociology from viewing the family as a static structural institution (advanced by functionalists like Talcott Parsons) to an active, ongoing process. His concept of “Doing Family” emphasizes everyday routines and human agency over rigid institutional boundaries.

Deconstructing the Structural Family

• Fluidity and Agency: Morgan focuses on routine activities (mealtimes, chores) where individuals actively negotiate roles, accommodating diverse late-modern family forms.
• “Displaying Family”: Building on Morgan, Janet Finch argues that these active family practices must be socially recognized to hold meaning.

Critical Analysis

• Structuralist Critique: Marxists argue his micro-focus on everyday practices ignores macro-structural inequalities (capitalism, poverty, state policies) that restrict a family’s agency.
• Personal Life Perspective: Carol Smart contends Morgan remains unnecessarily tied to the traditional term “family.” She proposes the Personal Life perspective to include pets and non-biological friends.

Morgan’s framework elegantly explains transnational families “doing family” across borders via remittances and digital kinship (WhatsApp calls), or LGBTQ+ “chosen families” formed through shared caregiving.

Conclusion

Despite feminist and structural critiques, Morgan effectively bridges structure and social action, providing a vital sociological lens to understand the fluid, diverse kinship networks of late modernity.