Debate 3 - can sociology be useful in creating social policy? Flashcards
YES it can be useful - helps to understand social problems
Sociology can give insight on how to tackle social problems. A key example is in relation to poverty in the 1960s as it was believed the welfare state eliminated poverty but the Townsend report showed it was still common place but a hidden and identified groups most at risk so social policy needed to target these group. As a result new measures of poverty were identified like relative deprivation and absolute poverty. Giddens social exclusion - policy like minimum wage, tax credits, sure start, EAZ
YES it can be useful - sociology can make the government aware of cultural differences so they can plan more effective policy
sociology can highlight different cultural differences between social groups and problems they face. Disabled people are more likely to be in poverty as they don’t work and it was believed they didn’t want to but sociological research found they couldn’t because of discrimination and this led to the disability discrimination act
YES it can be useful - research can see if policy is having any effect
sociological research can suggest and test the impact of a government social policy. For example Middleton et al studied how to improve staying on rates post16 in education which led to the EMA being introduced but further study found it was being spent on non-academic resources so the policy was abandoned
NO - it can not be useful - critical sociologists such as marxist and feminists would be deemed too extreme
Feminist belief to tackle the patriarchy it should be replaced with matriarchy or separate ism when men and women are completely separate so governments would reject this as it’s too extreme and radical so it is not useful in helping social problems
NO - it can not be useful - policies created by governments can be undermined by pressure groups lobbying against them
Big businesses may find it too impactful to accommodate for disabled people as it could be too expensive so they might oppose certain policies and not hired people and disguise the real reasons why.
NO - it can not be useful - in democratic countries governments tend to change frequently
This can undermine long-term strategies devised by sociologists, such as the EMA, which was introduced by the Labour Party but scrapped by the Conservative coalition. Consequently, policies are constantly changing due to the power dynamics, disregarding the opinions of sociologists regarding their usefulness.
