Famillies And Social Policy Flashcards
What are social policies
The plans and actions of state agencies usually based on laws introduced by the government that provide the framework within which the agencies operate
Policies impacting families in different cultures and countries
The one child policy in China
The government controls population by discouraging couples from having more than one child. Those who comply get extra benefits and free childcare those who don’t pledge to pay a fine.
Policies impacting families in different cultures and countries
The Nazi family policy in Germany
Nazis encouraged the master race by restricting abortions and contraception or sterilising those deemed as unfit
Functionalist perspective on families and social policy
They believe that the state helps families perform their functions more effectively, With the help of NHS families are more able to take care of its members. Functionalists are criticised for assuming that all members are benefited and that there is a March of progress.
Donzelot and policing the family
Perspective on families and social policy
Rejects the functionalist view and sees policies as a form of control over families.
Donzelot and policing the family
Surveillance concept to prove the states control over families
He uses the concept of surveillance developed by Foucault who argues that power and control is not only held by the government or state but diffused throughout society. It’s also held by doctors and social workers who use their knowledge to control families.
Donzelot and policing the family
Unequal enforcement of surveillance
He argues that surveillance is not targeted equally on all social classes poor families are likely to be seen as problem families.
Donzelot and policing the family
Rachel Condry
How state seeks control
The state seeks to control and regulate family life by imposing compulsory parenting orders through the courts. Parents of young offenders may be forced to attend parenting classes to learn the correct way to bring up their children.
Donzelot and policing the family
Criticism
He sees knowledge as a form of power and control however is criticised by Marxism and feminist with failing to identify those benefited by social policies (men and capitalists)
New right on families and social policy
They argue that social policies have encouraged family diversity which is threatening to the nuclear family. They are in favour of the conventional traditional nuclear family which is naturally self-fed and capable of caring and providing for its members.
New right on families and social policy
Brenda Almond and how policies have undermined the nuclear family
Laws making divorce easier undermines the idea of marriage as a commitment and the introduction of civil partnerships for gay and lesbian couples send out the message that the state no longer sees heterosexual marriage as superior.
New right on families and social policy
Welfare policy and dependency culture
Charles Murray
Generous benefits such as council housing for teen mums undermines the conventional nuclear family and encourages deviant family types. They also offer a “preserve incentive”. If fathers know the state will maintain their children, some may abandon them.
New right on families and social policy
Welfare policy dependency culture
policies encouraging a dependency culture
Individuals come to depend on the state to support them and then children rather than being self-reliant this threatens to essential functions that the family fulfil including the successful socialisation of the young and the maintenance of work ethic among men
New right on families and social policy
The new right solution to social policies encouraging a dependency culture
Cutting wealth of benefits leading to reduce taxes, denying council houses to remove the incentive to be pregnant. They favour policies that support the traditional nuclear family. They believe that the less at the state intervenes in families the better family life will be with greater reliance
New right on families and social policy
Criticism
Feminist argue that it is an attempt to justify a return to the traditional patriarchal nuclear family. It wrongly assumes that the patriarchal nuclear family is natural and ignores policies that already support the nuclear family.
The new right influence on policies
Conservative government policies from 1979 to 1997
• ban the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities
• Divorce promoted as a social problem
• Child support policies to enforce maintenance payments by absent parents
• however Divorce made easier
New right on families and social policy
Labour Government policies from 1997 to 2010
They saw heterosexual couple as the best and emphasise the importance of responsibility for children however they favoured the dual neo conventional family
• extended maternity leave
• Tax credit for working families
• Welfare taxation and minimum wage policies aimed at lifting children out of poverty
New right on families and social policy
Conservative government policies from 2010 to present
Conservatives have long been divided by modernises and traditionalists so it was hard to maintain consistency
• gay marriage
Continued labours policies of civil partnership for same-sex couples and given a married couples the same rights to adopt
Feminist perspective on families and social policies
They see society as patriarchal benefiting men at women’s expense also your institutions including the state and its policies help to maintain women’s subordinate position
Feminist on families and social policies
Policies as self fulfilling prophecy
Hillary land
Policies are based on assumptions about what the normal family is like. Hillary argues that policies assume that ideal family is patriarchal which is reinforced into families creating self-fulfilling prophecy. This also makes it hard for alternative family types.
Feminist perspective on families and social policies
Policy supporting the patriarchal family
Tax and benefit policies assume that husbands are the main wage earners and that wives are their financial dependence.
Childcare isn’t supported enough by the state making it hard for parents to work full-time
Sick and elderly expected to be cared for by the family
Feminist perspective on families and social policies
Diana Leonard and how policies act as a form of social control over women
Maternity leave policies reinforce patriarchy in the family despite its benefits because maternity leave entitlement is more generous than for paternity leave which encourages the assumption that the care of infants is the responsibility of mothers
Feminist perspective on families and social policies
Criticism
Not all policies are directed at maintaining patriarchy, equal pay, sex discrimination laws and benefits for loan parents all challenge the patriarchal family. Rape marriage being made a criminal offence in 1991 shows an improvement to the position of women within families.
Gender regimes
Eileen Drew
Shows how policies in different countries can disengage equality.
