Families and Social Policy Flashcards
define social policy
Laws made by the government which aim to improve society.
Functionalist Fletcher perspective on social policy
Health, housing and education policies have led to the welfare state which supports the family in completing its functions better. For example, the NHS means that the family can better take care of its members.
Donzelot perspective on social policy
Theorised ‘the policing of families’ which refers to how social workers, doctors and health visitors use their knowledge to control and change families.
This is done through surveillance, however surveillance isn’t carried out equally on all social classes. Poorer families are more likely to be seen as a ‘problem’ and the cause of all crime and anti-social behaviour.
Donzelot rejects functionalistst view and in turn argues that social policy is a form of state control and power over the family
Condry study to reinforce Donzelot
The state tries to control family life by imposing court Parental Orders on the parents of truants, young offenders and badly behaved children so they learn the ‘correct’ way of raising their child.
New Right Murray perspective on social policy
Welfare policies are undermining the traditional nuclear family, they offer generous welfare benefits like council housing for teen mums and cash payments for lone-parent families. These policies offer ‘perverse incentives’ as fathers will abandon their responsibilities if they see the state will pay for their children and teenage girls will have the incentive of getting pregnant in order to get a council house, therefore the state is rewarding people for irresponsible behaviour and encouraging a dependency culture that threatens the family functions.
New Rights influence on Conservative 1979-97 policies.
Main aim of Thatchers policies were to strengthen the traditional nuclear family, emphasise self reliance and reduce welfare.
Examples:
- Child Support Agency (enforce child maintenance from absent parents)
- Section 28 (banned local authorities from promoting homosexuality)
- Married Men’s Tax Allowance (encouraged traditional family structure)
- Back to Basics (Major encouraged traditional family values)
Evaluation of the New Right
- Marxists argue the New Right is an ideology to justify policies that benefit the ruling class/capitalism. While Child Support Agency appears to encourage parents responsibility, really it was about cutting state expenditure and therefore cutting taxes for the rich (or saving public money to spend on things that benefit the rich)
- Abbot and Wallace say cutting benefits simply drives poor families into poverty, making them even less self-reliant.
New Labour 1997-2010 Policies
Favoured dual earning families and had some support for alternative family types, but also was similar to New Right in the sense that the heterosexual nuclear family was best for family life and that parents should take responsibility for children
Examples:
- Parenting Orders
- Longer maternity leave
- Working Families tax credit
- Unmarried Couples Adoption.
- Civil Partnership Act (didn’t really go far as the Coalition later introduced Gay Marriage)
Conservative/Coalition 2010 onwards Policy
Inconsistency between modernists who accepted diversity and traditionalists who favour a New Right view.
- Shared Parental Leave
- Equal Marriage Act
Other Important Polices
- Beveridge Report 1942 introduced welfare state.
- Divorce Reformat Act 1969, made it easier for women to file for divorce without having to prove anything. Lead to increase in family diversity and women’s independence.
- Contraceptive Bill lead to decline in birth rate.
Feminist perspective on social policy
Argues that the social policies help maintain women’s subordinate position and the unequal division of labour in the family.
Leonard Feminist perspective on social policy
Argues that even where policies seem to support women, they still reinforce the patriarchal family and act as a form of social control over women.
EG: Although maternity leave policies benefit women, it reinforces patriarchy by implying that women are the natural carers.
Gender Regimes meaning
Describes how social policies in different countries can either encourage or discourage gender equality in the family and at work
Land Feminist perspective on social policy
Social policies assume that the ideal family is patriarchal and nuclear, with a male breadwinner and female homemaker.
An example is Tax and Benefit policies which assume husbands are the main wage earners, this means wives can’t claim social security benefits in their own right which reinforces their dependence.
Drew’s views on different gender regimes
- Familistic gender regimes: Policies based on the traditional gender divisions between males and females, in Greece there is minimal state funding for childcare, could also use tax and benefits policy.
- Individualistic gender regimes: policies based on the belief that husband and wives should be treated the same. Wives aren’t dependent on the husband so each partner has a separate entitlement to state benefits.
