BASS Social Anthropology and Sociology

This unit will introduce you to the importance of ‘personal life’ as a core sociological topic. The unit will start with an introduction to what is meant by ‘personal life’ and everyday life. Subsequent lectures will draw out the broad theme of connectedness in personal life through exploring diverse connections between people; between people, objects and their environment; between the personal and the political; and between the past and the present.

The lectures after Week 1 are structured into two major blocks: Intimacies and Connectedness (Romantic Intimacy; Mediated Intimacy; Friendship; More-than-human Intimacy); and The Personal is Political (Youth, Adulthood and Temporality; Gender and Feminisms; Sexualities and LGBTQIA+ Lived Experiences; Home, House and The Everyday Life of Objects).

Lecture topics will include: personal life in and out of time (lifecourse and temporality); intimate relationships; friendship and acquaintanceship; sexuality, gender and the politics of personal life; potent connections to the past (memory, biography and identity); the making and unmaking of home; the everyday life of objects; and the personal and the political. In so doing, we will address demographic, social and cultural shifts that have occurred in the area of personal life over the last century or so, as well as the impact on personal life of more recent global shocks such as the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement and the transnational #MeToo movement and digital feminisms. The course will end with a lecture that provides a summary and overview of what everyday and personal life means in sociology.  

• To introduce students to a sociological approach to the study of personal life and the everyday  

• To examine how personal lives have changed over time and how wider social changes have impacted upon personal life, including the impact of recent global shocks such as Covid-19 pandemic  

• To underline the theme of connectedness in personal life and the everyday  

• To provide conceptual tools for understanding the micro level of day-to-day life  

On completion of this unit successful students will:

• analyse the relationship between personal experience and wider social phenomena
• explain how the 'present' is rooted in the past and oriented towards the future in everyday life
• have an appreciation of the connectedness of personal life through exploring diverse connections between people; between people, objects and their environment
• critically and creatively examine the relationship between the personal and the political through engaging with the contemporary issues and historical contexts
• have knowledge of the interconnections between issues of biography, sexuality, identity, memory, emotions and other areas defined as 'personal'
• have an appreciation of why and how the personal, relationality and everyday life are important to the study of sociology 

Weekly lecture (1 x 2 hour)

Weekly tutorials (1 hour)

Formative essay (non-assessed but feedback will be provided)  

All sociology courses include both formative feedback - which lets you know how you’re getting on and what you could do to improve - and summative feedback - which gives you a mark for your assessed work.

Barker, Meg-John, Rosalind Gill, and Laura Harvey (2018) Mediated Intimacy, Cambridge: Polity Press.

Elliott, Anthony (2023) Algorithmic intimacy: the digital revolution in personal relationships. Cambridge: Polity. 

Mason, Jennifer (2018) Affinities: Personal Connections in Personal Life, Cambridge: Polity

May, Vanessa and Nordqvist, Petra.(eds) Sociology of Personal Life (2019, second edition)¸London: Red Globe Press.

Smart, Carol (2007) Personal Life: New Directions in Sociological Thinking, Cambridge, Polity.

Jamieson, Lynn (1998) Intimacy: Personal Relationships in Modern Societies, Cambridge: Polity.

Quaid, Sheila, Hugman, Catriona and Wilcock, Angela (2021) Negotiating Families and Personal Lives in the 21st Century: Exploring Diversity, Social Change and Inequalities. London: Routledge.

Scott, Susie (2009 ) Making Sense of Everyday Life, Cambridge: Polity.

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2027 will be £10,050 per annum. Tuition fees for international students will be £29,200 per annum.

For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

Scholarships and bursaries, including the Manchester Bursary , are available to eligible home/EU students.

Some undergraduate UK students will receive bursaries of up to £2,000 per year, in addition to the government package of maintenance grants.

You can get information and advice on student finance to help you manage your money.