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Question 1

What does social policy refer to?

Answer 1

Social policy refers to the plans and actions of state agencies, such as health and social services, the welfare benefits system, schools and other public bodies.

Question 2

What are social policies usually based on?

Answer 2

Policies are usually based on laws introduced by government that provide the framework within which these agencies operate. For example, laws lay down who is entitled to each specific welfare benefit.

Question 3

f

Answer 3

d

Question 4

f

Answer 4

d

Question 5

Nazi family policy

Answer 5

The state compulsorily sterilised 375,000 disabled people that it deemed unfit to breed on grounds of ‘physical malformation, mental retardation, epilepsy, imbecility, deafness or blindness’.

Question 6

Democratic societies

Answer 6

Some people argue that in democratic societies such as Britain, the family is a private sphere of life in which the government does not intervene, except perhaps when things ‘go wrong’, for example in cases of child abuse.

Question 7

How do functionalists see society?

Answer 7

Functionalists see society as built on harmony and consensus (shared values), and free from major conflicts. They see the state as acting in the interests of society as a whole and its social policies as being for the good of all.

Question 8

How do functionalists view the role of policies in relation to the family?

Answer 8

They see the state as acting in the interests of society as a whole and its social policies as being for the good of all. Functionalists see policies as helping families to perform their functions more effectively and make life better for their members.

Question 9

What does Ronald Fletcher (1966) argue?

Answer 9

Ronald Fletcher (1966) argues that the introduction of health, education and housing policies in the years since the industrial revolution has gradually led to the development of a welfare state that supports the family in performing its functions more effectively.

Question 10

How do functionalists view the role of policies in relation to the family?

Answer 10

They see the state as acting in the interests of society as a whole and its social policies as being for the good of all. Functionalists see policies as helping families to perform their functions more effectively and make life better for their members.
For example, Ronald Fletcher (1966) argues that the introduction of health, education and housing policies in the years since the industrial revolution has gradually led to the development of a welfare state that supports the family in performing its functions more effectively.

Question 11

What does Ronald Fletcher (1966) argue?

Answer 11

Ronald Fletcher (1966) argues that the introduction of health, education and housing policies in the years since the industrial revolution has gradually led to the development of a welfare state that supports the family in performing its functions more effectively.
For instance, the existence of the National Health Service means that with the help of doctors, nurses, hospitals and medicines, the family today is better able to take care of its members when they are sick.

Question 12

What are the two main criticisms of the functionalist view of social policy in relation to the family?

Answer 12

It assumes that all members of the family benefit equally from social policies, whereas feminists for example argue that policies often benefit men at the expense of women.
It assumes that there is a ‘march of progress’, with social policies steadily making family life better and better. However, Marxists for example argue that policies can also turn the clock back and reverse progress previously made, for example by cutting welfare benefits to poor families.

Question 13

Why does Jacques Donzelot (1977) offer a very different perspective on the relationship between the family and state policies from that of the functionalists?

Answer 13

Jacques Donzelot (1977) offers a very different perspective on the relationship between the family and state policies from that of the functionalists. Rather than a consensus view of policy as benefiting the family, Donzelot has a conflict view of society and he sees policy as a form of state power and control over families.

Question 14

What is meant by surveillance (Foucault)?

Answer 14

Donzelot uses Michel Foucault’s (1976) concept of surveillance (observing and monitoring). Foucault sees power not just as something held by the government or state, but as diffused (spread) throughout society and found within all relationships.

Question 15

What does Foucault see professionals such as doctors and social workers as exercising power over?

Answer 15

Foucault sees professionals such as doctors and social workers as exercising power over their clients by using their expert knowledge to turn them into ‘cases’ to be dealt with.

Question 16

What is Donzelot interested in?

Answer 16

He is interested in how professionals carry out surveillance of families.

Question 17

What is meant by ‘the policing of families’?

Answer 17

f

Question 18

What does Rachel Condry (2007) note?

Answer 18

As Rachel Condry (2007) notes, the state may seek to control and regulate family life by imposing compulsory Parenting Orders through the courts. Parents of young offenders, truants or badly behaved children may be forced to attend parenting classes to learn the ‘correct’ way to bring up their children.

Question 19

In what way does Donzelot’s view of the effect of policy on family life differ from the functionalists’ view?

Answer 19

Donzelot rejects the functionalists’ march of progress view that social policy and the professionals who carry it out have created a better, freer or more humane society. Instead, he sees social policy as a form of state control of the family.

Question 20

What does Donzelot see social policy as a form of?

Answer 20

A form of state control of the family.

Question 21

By focusing on the micro level of how the ‘caring professions’ act as agents of social control through their surveillance of families, what does Donzelot show the importance of?

Answer 21

By focusing on the micro level of how the ‘caring professions’ act as agents of social control through their surveillance of families, Donzelot shows the importance of professional knowledge as a form of power and control.

Question 22

What do Marxists and feminists criticise Donzelot for?

Answer 22

Marxists and feminists criticise Donzelot for failing to identify clearly who benefits from such policies of surveillance. Marxists argue that social policies generally operate in the interests of the capitalist class, while feminists argue that men are the main beneficiaries.

Question 23

Describe the roles of adults in the New Right view of the ‘traditional’ nuclear family. How does their view compare to the functionalists?

Answer 23

The New Right are strongly in favour of the conventional or ‘traditional’ nuclear family based on a married, heterosexual couple, with a division of labour between a male provider and a female homemaker. They see this family type as naturally self-reliant and capable of caring and providing for its members, especially the successful socialisation of children.

Question 24

Give three examples of policies that the New Right see as threatening the conventional family and producing social problems.

Answer 24

Laws making divorce easier undermine the idea of marriage as a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman.
The introduction of civil partnerships (and since 2014 marriage) for gay and lesbian couples sends out the message that the state no longer sees heterosexual marriage as superior to other domestic setups.
Tax laws discriminate against conventional families with a sole (usually male) breadwinner. They cannot transfer the non-working partner’s (usually the wife’s) tax allowances to the working partner, so they tend to pay more tax than dual-earner couples, each of whom has a tax allowance.

Question 25

What does Brenda Almond (2006) argue?

Answer 25

Laws making divorce easier undermine the idea of marriage as a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman.
The introduction of civil partnerships (and since 2014 marriage) for gay and lesbian couples sends out the message that the state no longer sees heterosexual marriage as superior to other domestic setups.
Tax laws discriminate against conventional families with a sole (usually male) breadwinner. They cannot transfer the non-working partner’s (usually the wife’s) tax allowances to the working partner, so they tend to pay more tax than dual-earner couples, each of whom has a tax allowance.

Question 26

How do tax laws discriminate against conventional families with a sole (usually male) breadwinner?

Answer 26

Tax laws discriminate against conventional families with a sole (usually male) breadwinner. They cannot transfer the non-working partner’s (usually the wife’s) tax allowances to the working partner, so they tend to pay more tax than dual-earner couples, each of whom has a tax allowance.

Question 27

Why are New Right commentators such as Charles Murray (1984; 1990) particularly critical of welfare policy?

Answer 27

New Right commentators such as Charles Murray (1984; 1990) are particularly critical of welfare policy. In their view, providing ‘generous’ welfare benefits, such as council housing for unmarried teenage mothers and cash payments to support lone-parent families, undermines the conventional nuclear family and encourages deviant and dysfunctional family types that harm society.

Question 28

Explain what is meant by the idea that welfare benefits are ‘perverse incentives’.

Answer 28

Murray argues that these welfare benefits offer ‘perverse incentives’ - that is, they reward irresponsible or anti-social behaviour. For example:

• If fathers see that the state will maintain their children, some of them will abandon their responsibilities towards their families.
• Providing council housing for unmarried teenage mothers encourages young girls to become pregnant.
• The growth of lone-parent families, encouraged by generous benefits, means more boys grow up without a male role model and authority figure. This lack of parental authority is responsible for a rising crime rate among young males.

Question 29

Give two examples of ways in which benefits may act as ‘perverse incentives’.

Answer 29

• If fathers see that the state will maintain their children, some of them will abandon their responsibilities towards their families.
• The growth of lone-parent families, encouraged by generous benefits, means more boys grow up without a male role model and authority figure. This lack of paternal authority is responsible for a rising crime rate among young males.

Question 30

Why for the New Right, does social policy have a major impact on family roles and relationships?

Answer 30

Current policies are encouraging a dependency culture, where individuals come to depend on the state to support them and their children rather than being self-reliant. This threatens two essential functions that the family fulfils for society:

• the successful socialisation of the young
• the maintenance of the work ethic among men.

Question 31

What two essential functions that the family fulfils for society does social policy threaten?

Answer 31

• The successful socialisation of the young

- The maintenance of the work ethic among men.

Question 32

Explain one way in which taxes might be used to encourage the traditional nuclear family.

Answer 32

Cutting welfare benefits would mean that taxes could also be reduced, and both these changes would give fathers more incentive to work and to provide for their families.

Question 33

What is the New Right’s solution to these problems?

Answer 33

The New Right’s solution to these problems is simple. They argue that the policy must be changed, with cuts in welfare spending and tighter restrictions on who is eligible for benefits.

Question 34

What advantages would cuts in welfare spending and tighter restrictions on who is eligible for benefits have?

Answer 34

Cutting welfare benefits would mean that taxes could also be reduced, and both these changes would give fathers more incentive to work and to provide for their families.
Similarly, denying council housing to unmarried teenage mothers would remove a major incentive to become pregnant when very young.

Question 35

What policies do the New Right also advocate to support the traditional nuclear family?

Answer 35

The New Right also advocate policies to support the traditional nuclear family, such as taxes that favour married rather than cohabiting couples, and making absent fathers financially responsible for their children.

Question 36

How do the New Right and functionalism differ in their views of the impact of welfare policies on family life?

Answer 36

The New Right advocate policies to support the traditional nuclear family, such as taxes that favour married rather than cohabiting couples, and making absent fathers financially responsible for their children.
Whereas functionalists take the view that state welfare policies can benefit the family and make it better able to meet its members’ needs, the New Right disagree.
In their view, the less the state ‘interferes’ in families, the better family life will be. Greater self-reliance, and not reliance on the state, is what will enable the family to meet its members’ needs most effectively.

Question 37

What do the New Right believe greater self-reliance, and not reliance on the state, will enable?

Answer 37

Greater self-reliance, and not reliance on the state, is what will enable the family to meet its members’ needs most effectively.

Question 38

Give four criticisms of the New Right view.

Answer 38

• Feminists argue that it is an attempt to justify a return to the traditional patriarchal nuclear family that subordinated women to men and confined them to a domestic role.
• It wrongly assumes that the patriarchal nuclear family is ‘natural’ rather than socially constructed.
• Pam Abbott and Claire Wallace (1992) argue that cutting benefits would simply drive many poor families into even greater poverty and make them even less self-reliant.
• The New Right ignore the many policies that support and maintain the conventional nuclear family rather than undermine it.

Question 39

What did Mrs Thatcher’s Conservative government ban the promotion of, and what did this include?

Answer 39

Reflecting a New Right view, Mrs Thatcher’s Conservative government banned the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities. This included a ban on teaching that homosexuality was an acceptable family relationship.

Question 40

What did the Conservatives also define as a social problem?

Answer 40

The Conservatives also defined divorce as a social problem - a view held by the New Right - and emphasised the continued responsibility of parents for their children after divorce. They set up the Child Support Agency to enforce maintenance payments by absent parents (usually fathers).

Question 41

What did the Conservatives set up?

Answer 41

They set up the Child Support Agency to enforce maintenance payments by absent parents (usually fathers).

Question 42

What measures did the Conservatives introduce that were opposed by the New Right?

Answer 42

The Conservatives introduced measures opposed by the New Right, such as making divorce easier and giving ‘illegitimate’ children (those born outside marriage) the same rights as those born to married parents.