Family Policies.

Question 1

The ‘Troubled families policy’ was in

Answer 1

2010

Question 2

What did the ‘Troubled families policy’ do?

Answer 2

£448 million was put towards assisting families with financial difficulties.
The idea being it would lift families off on benefits in line with the Coalitions austerity measures

Question 3

What was the issue with ‘Troubled families policy’?

Answer 3

It was criticised for being out of touch; local authorities were given their budget and given no direction as to the best way to spend it on families to turn their situation around.
. Councils could easily report a success rate that didn’t have an actual impact.

It didn’t work in many respects
- There was largely very little change in the amount of adults claiming out of work benefits
- No detectable impacts on criminal offending or truancy at schools.

Question 4

Communist Romania did what?

Answer 4

Prohibited access to contraception and abortion in order to increase the population to bolster the economy.
They also taxed unmarried/childless couples more.

Question 5

What’s the issue with Communist Romania’s policy

Answer 5

It lead to more backalley abortions, endangering women.
It subordinated women.

It created an orphanage crisis later on, which in particular after the government collapse were found to be very neglected.

Question 6

What was the Nazi party’s family policy?

Answer 6

• restricting abortion and contraception to ‘breed the master race’
• limit women’s work opportunities to incentives domestic life.
• Sterilisation of disabled people, or killing them.
• The Hitler youth groups, a scouts group to indoctrinate children.

Question 7

What was China’s family policy?

Answer 7

The one child policy.
Creating a permission list to get pregnant.
Those complying with policy were rewarded with benefits and more access to socialised childcare and medicine
Those who broke away were taxed harder.

Question 8

In 2015 the Chinese government made it a…

Answer 8

2 child policy.

Question 9

Effects of the 1 child policy.

Answer 9

Gender imbalance in the population.

Question 10

Foucault’s theory of surveillance informs the work of Donzelot. What is Donzelot’s theory?

Answer 10

Social workers and health workers have a monopoly on specific/specialist knowledge that allows them to police the family.

The poorest are targeted the most because they’re often seen as problematic, parasitic or feckless. Policy therefore is often designed to control them.

Question 11

How might the state police the family?

Answer 11

. Restricting/disincentivising having children

. Fining families for keeping their children out of compulsory education

. Restricting access to abortion

. Locking tax benefits behind getting marriage

Question 12

Who’s responsible for the New right theory of dependency culture?

Answer 12

Charles Murray.

Question 13

What did the New Labour governments of 1997 onwards do in relation to family policy?

Answer 13

. Longer maternity leave
. New deal, helping lone parents to return to work more easily.
. Giving unmarried couples the same right to adopt
. Outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexuality.

Question 14

What types of families do New right policies favour and what types of families do New Labour policies favour?

Answer 14

New Right: the traditional nuclear family

New Labour: the Neo-conservative family (eg: Chester), where both partners earn.

Question 15

What did Thatchers government do in relation to homosexuality?

Answer 15

Outlawed its promotion or inclusion in education in local authorities.

Question 16

What do democratic society’s family policies usually do?

Answer 16

The Family is seen as a private Sphere and so there’s less intrusion by the state.
Because of dominantly modern Liberal principles, the government is a facilitator not an instigator or controller.

Question 17

School was made compulsory in what year roughly?

Answer 17

1870

Question 18

What year was the divorce reform act?

Answer 18

1969

Question 19

When was gay marriage legalised in the U.K

Answer 19

2013

Question 20

What did Labour do in relation to couples having children?

Answer 20

Extended both maternity and paternity leave. However, maternity leave is much longer with fathers only getting 2 weeks.

Question 21

Remember Land’s commentary on what family policy tends to do?

Answer 21

Land noted that there’s a self fulfilling prophesy maintained within the way family policies replicate women’s lesser status

Question 22

How might family policy be a self fulfilling prophecy in maintaining women’s subjugation under patriarchy?

and which theorist (for bonus points) came up with this point?

Answer 22

• Child care being further left to the market, means that women who under patriarchy are considered by default the better carers, will be expected to suspend their own careers.
• Tax incentives locked behind marriage in traditional family structures put pressure on women to marry and assuming feminist positions on men not pulling their weight in domestic work, this subordinates women.

Land’s theory.

Question 23

Foucault’s theory of surveillance informs what theory?

Answer 23

Donzelot’s theory of policing the family.

Question 24

Donzelot’s policing of the family theory makes a point regarding the middle class dictating to the working class.

Answer 24

Middle class ideals dictate what is and isn’t a stable and or moral family arrangement.

This informs policy because most ‘experts’ also affirm these premises.

Question 25

The troubled families policy and the further privatisation of elderly care are which government’s policies

Answer 25

The Coalition and recent conservative governments.