Family - Family and Social Policy - 2.8 Flashcards
Social Policy
> Plans/actions of state e.g. laws for marriage/divorce which directly affect family
> Compulsory school indirectly affects families and keeps children dependent for longer
Cross-Cultural Examples of State Polices
> China’s One Child Policy
Communist Romania
Nazi Family Policy
China’s One Child Policy - Cross-Cultural Examples of State Polices
> Population control policy discouraged people from having more than one child e.g. women need permission from employer for pregnancy
> If people conform, they get benefits e.g. free childcare & a higher tax allowance
> But no compliance means fines
Communist Romania - Cross-Cultural Examples of State Polices
> Made policies to increase the birth rate, - stopped contraception & abortion
> Lowering age of marriage to 15, childless couples had to pay more tax
Nazi Family Policy - Cross-Cultural Examples of State Polices
> Encourage healthy & racially pure to breed a master race - stopped abortion/contraception
> Sterilised disabled people, and later murdered them in contraception camps.
Perspectives on Families & Social Policy (Key Studies)
> Flecther (Functionalist view on Social Policy)
> Donzelot (Policing the Family)
Condry (Policing the Family)
> Almond (New Right on Policies undermining the nuclear family)
Murray (New Right view on Welfare Policy & Dependency Culture, Solutions)
> Hayton (Modernist & Traditional Division & Policies criticising the New Right) (Coalition Gov 2010-15)
> Land (Feminism & Social Policy)
Leonard (Feminism & State Policies)
> Drew (Gender Regimes, EU)
Fletcher’s view on Social Policy (Functionalist)
> Policies improve family life, welfare state, supports families in caring for their members better e.g. NHS etc.
Marxist & Feminist (Criticisms of Functionalism)
> Only benefits men at the expense of women
> Policies reduce progress e.g. cutting welfare benefits
Donzelot (Policing the Family)
> Conflict view policies are state control over the family, a form of surveillance widespread in society
> Doctors/Social Workers watch the family, turning them into cases
> The working class are surveilled more as they are seen as the cause of anti-social behaviour & Crime.
Condry (Policing the Family)
> State control family through parenting orders by courts.
> Parents of young offenders are forced to go to parenting classes
A03 Perspectives on Families & Social Policy (Key Studies)
> Marxist & Feminist (Criticisms of Functionalism Policing Family)
> Functionalist (Criticisms of New Right)
> Feminists (Criticisms of New Right)
> Abbott & Wallace (Criticisms of New Right)
Marxist & Feminist (Criticisms of Policing of Family)
> Policies work in the interests of the upper class
> Men benefit from policies
Almond (New Right on Policies undermining the nuclear family)
> Divorce easier undermines marriage & now increased rights for cohabitants e.g. adoption
> LGBT marriage, shows state don’t see heterosexual as better
> Tax discriminates against the nuclear family as they pay more
Murray (New Right view on Welfare Policy & Dependency Culture, Solutions)
> Policies encourage lone parent families and removes work ethic - they encourage dads to abandon the family
> Solution is to cut benefits to give an incentive for men to work to pay for their children, social housing should not be given to teenage mothers
Feminists - AO3 of New Right view on Policy
> Justifies patriarchy and subordinates women, they restrict them to the housewives role.
> Patriarchal nuclear family is a form of social control