new right and the family Flashcards
Fatherless families
According to Charles Murray, increasing numbers of young healthy low income males, choose not to take jobs. Many turn to crime particularly violent street crime because they have grown up without a father and a male wage earner, which socialises the young boys into this ‘norm’
Female headed families
Single mothers tend to be on welfare benefits and there is a lack of discipline within the family because they are not the disciplinarian, they hold the expressive role. Murray believes that work must become the socialisation and role models required to develop these attitudes are often lacking in female headed low income families because of the way they have been socialised.
New right perspective of the family
Like functionalists, new right thinkers see the family as a cornerstone of society. They also see a normal family as the nuclear family unit.
John redwood
A conservative MP, stated in 1993 that the natural state should be the two adult family caring for their children and for him the 2 adult are male and female.
What has there been a growing concern of
The state of the family is in decline, under threat, breaking down, fragmenting.
Evidence to support the new rights claims
Lone parent families: according to the ONS in 2022 there were 2.9 million lone parents families accounting for 15% of all families, lone mothers dominating this by 84%.
- divorce rates according to the latest news and ONS: declined since 1990. 44% of all married couples in 1992 divorced compared to 19% in 2010.
- cohbitation according to the ONS in 2022 made up 18% of all families (3.6 million from 2.9 in 2012.
- gay couples ONS: in 2019, 210,000 of same sex families which is a 40% increase from 2015.
What are the causes of the decrease in the nuclear family
Breakdown of traditional family values, overgenuous welfare benifits to single mothers which allows father to opt out for their repsabilites for raising and providing for their children. The influence of feminism which has devalued marriage, domestic and child caring, and encouraged women to seek fulfillment outside the home like getting a career.
According to the new right what are the consequences of the decrease in the nuclear family
Alternative families are failing to provide adequate socialisation. This can result in children and young people underachieving at school and behaving in anti-social ways ranging from rudeness to crime
According to the new right what are the solutions for the issues in society
Return to the traditional nuclear family. Change in government policy- such as redirecting welfare benifitss and social services provision to support and maintain two-parents families and penalising those who fail to live up to this ideal.
Victim blaming criticism of the new right perspectives
Critics argue that the new right tends to blame the victims for problems that are not of their own making. Amy f these problems may resulty= frome low wages, inadequete state ebinifits, lack of jobs and other factors beyond the control of lone parents.
Criticism of the new rights idealised view of the past
New right thinkers may be harking back to a golden age of the family which never existed. Even in the Victorian times- supposedly the era of traditional family values- lone parenthood, cohabitation and sexual relationships outside of marriage were by no means uncommon.
Value judgements criticism of new right thinkers
The new right sees the nuclear family consisting of husband, wife and children as the ideal. Other family arrangements are considered inferior. Critics argue that this reflects the values of the new right rather than a balanced judgement of the worth of family diversity in todays society. Who is to say that families without fathers are necessarily inferior.
Feminist critic- ann oakley
The new right promotes a traditional patriarchal family structure which feminists argue oppresses women by reinforcing gender roles. Critics the new rights claim that the nuclear family is natural and biologically determined, arguing instead that gender roles are socially constructed
Marxist critics- eli zaretsky
Critics the new right by arguring that the family provides an emotional escape from capitalism but ultimately reinforces exploitation. The nuclear family encourages consumerism in the way families purchase goods that drive profits. Reporduces labour power such as unpaid labour which benifitss capitalism. Socializing children into accepting hierarchy and inequality
What did Judith Stacey say about the new right
Postmodernist- says that the new right assumes that the nuclear family is the ideal structure, but postmodernists argue that the family diversity is the reality in contemporary society. Stacey suggests that there is no one size fits all, and that new family structures like single parent families and LGBTQ+ families should be recognised and valued. New right rejects the family diversity and ignores how society has changed making their perspective outdated.
Interactionists and social action theory critics
Critics from interpretivist traditions argue that the new right ignores individual agency and the personal meanings that families hold for people. By general zing about what Is best for society, the new right overlooks how family life is negotiated and experience differently by individuals
