Families and households - Social policy Flashcards
What do social polices refer to?
The plans and actions of state agenices e.g health and social care services, welfare benefit system, schools
Policies can impact upon all aspects of family life, what are they?
Marriage - Age restriction is 18
Divorce - unreasonable behaviour
Children - can drive from the age of 17
Domestic violence - mental, emotional, financial
Welfare - universial credit
What are the examples of social policy that impacts upon the family in the UK?
The bedrooom tax - 2013, cut public expenditure on housing benefits and incentivise tenants in oversized homes to relocate to smaller accommodation
Same sex marraige - 2013, Civil marraiges of same sex couples may take place ar register offices and on approved premises - strengthens vital instiution of marraige and ensures it remains an essential building blockof modern society
Free childcare for 2-4 year olds - all 3/4 year olds are entitled to 15 hours of free childcare and early education a week. 2013 - extended to include 2 year olds from disadvantaged families - closes gap between later educational achievement of disadvantaged children and their peers
Case study - Facts about China’s one child policy
Introduced 1978-1980
Designed to halt population growth/ worried it would damage large scale economic growth
Children over endulged - do not have social skills
Sharp rise in unregistered children
Too many old dependants for the young dependant to support
Disproportionate gender ratio - parents wanting to have their one child as a son - abortion/abandoning
Families who broke the policy - forced abortion/sterilisation and removing woman’s reproductive rights
2015 - two children 2021 - 3 children
Case study - Romania’s pro child birth policy
Why did the government issue a Decree 770
To outlaw abortion for women under 40 with fewer than four children
Case study - Romania’s pro child birth policy facts
Population growth would fuel economic growth
Women resorted to homemade illegal abortions
1977 - childless people made to pay additional taxes
1980s - condoms and the pill become avaliable (expensive) - banned
Doctors who performed abortions were imprisoned
Women examined every 4 months for signs of pregnancy
If found to be pregnant be did not subsequently give birth - prosecuted
How did the Romania’s pro child birth policy impact children born under these laws?
Abandoned to state care
Electricity and heat were often intermitten, not enough food/staff
Physcial needs assessed, emotional needs ignored
Many contacted HIV because hypodermic needles were seldom sterilised
Functionalist perspective on social policies
Name a sociologist
Helps families to perform their functions more effectively and make life better for their members
Fletcher - introduction of health, education and housing policies in the years since the industrial revolution has gradually led to the development of the welfare state that supports the family in performing its functions more effectively (eg. the introduction of the NHS means that families can take better care of sick members when they are ill).
Evaluation for the functionalist perspective on social policies
Assumes that all members of the family benefit equally from social policies whereas feminists for example argue policies often benefit the men at the expense of women
Assumes there is a ‘march of progress’ with social policies steadily making family life better
New Right perspective on social policies
Name a sociologist
Policies help undermine the nuclear family and encourages the changes of greater family diversity i.e increase in divorce ,cohabitation, same sex couples
Murray argues that the state is providing overly generous welfare benefits. This is becausethese policies offer ‘perverse incentives’, meaning that the state rewards people for irresponsible or antisocial behaviour.
Evaluation for the new right perspective on social policies
The New Right ignore the many policies that support and maintain the convential nuclear family rather than undermine it
Wrongly assumes that the patriarchal nuclear family is ‘natural’ rather than socially constructed
Feminist perspective on social policies
Name a sociologist
All instiutions including the state and uts policies help maintain women’s subordinate position and the unequal gender divison of labour in the family
Leonard argues that even where policies seem to support women (eg. childcare so the woman can go to work), they still reinforce the patriarchal family and act as a form of social control over women. For example, although maternity leave policies benefit women, it reinforces patriarchy, because the terms of paternity leave are less generous, implying that women are the natural carers.
Evaluation for the feminist perspective on social policies
Not all policies are directed at maintaining patriarchy e.g equal pay and sex discrimination laws. Improve the position of women in the family and wider society
Marxist perspective on social policies
Provides ideological legitimation for capitalism and make the capitalist system seem just and fair
Maintain the labour force for further exploitation e.g NHS keeps workers fit enough to work
Preventing revolution
Should reveal the exploitation that underpins captialism and the way in which the ruling class use policies to mask this
Evaluation for the marxist perspective on social policies
Tends to be gender blind in failing to recognise importance of women in social policies
Very deterministic in that it assumes all aspects of family life are determined by economic forces
Focuses on one particular type of family and does not deal adequately with alternative
