Families: social policies Flashcards
What do functionalists believe the state and policies do for society
Functionalists see society as based on a value consensus.
- The state acts in the interests of the whole society and its policies benefit everyone.
- Policies help the family to perform its functions, socialising children, caring for the welfare of its memebers, etc.
Functionalist, ‘march of progress’ view on improving family life.
The welfare state enables families to look after their members better, for example through the NHS.
The new right, how do they view the nuclear family?
They see the traditional nuclear family as ‘natural’ and based on a biological division of labour between the male breadwinner and the female nurturer.
What does the new right believe will happen if the parents play their correct roles in society.
The family will be self-reliant, able to socialise children effectively and to care for its members.
What does the new right oppose?
It opposes family diversity and sees lone parent and same sex families as damaging to children.
Problems with the new right in terms of welfare policies.
- The new right criticise many welfare policies for undermining the family’s self-reliance by providing generous benefits, eg lone parent families.
- This results in a ‘dependency culture’ which individuals depend on the state to support their families.
New right - Murray
Murray sees benefits as a ‘perverse incentives’ rewarding irresponsible behaviour, eg if the state provides benefits to lone mothers, some fathers will abandon their families..
Solution to the welfare benefits in terms of the new right. Also compare this to functionalists.
The new right favour cutting welfare spending, especially universal benefits. This will give fathers more incentive to provide for their families.
- Unlike functionalists, who see policies benefiting the family, the new right believe that the less families depend on the state, the better.
Feminist view on social policy.
Social policies often define or shape family life in many ways that benefit men and maintain patriarchy, disadvantaging women and maintaining their subordination.
What does feminist, Land argue?
Land argues that policies often assume the patriarchal family to be the norm. As a result, policies act as a self-fulfilling prophecy, actually helping to reproduce this family type. Eg maternity leave is much longer than paternity leave, reinforcing women’s responsibility for childcare.
What policy did new labour introduce that the new right opposed.
Civil partnerships for same-sex couples
