new right view of families

Question 1

what do new right argue about families?

Answer 1

• nuclear family is essential
• men and women should have conventional roles

Question 2

what do new right believe about government policies

Answer 2

• argue that government policies undermine the traditional nuclear family
• believe the nuclear family (married mother and father) is natural and the cornerstone of society
• claim the decline of the nuclear family leads to social issues like higher crime rates and declining morality
• oppose welfare state for encouraging single-parent families and deviancy
• supported policies like the Back to Basics campaign (1993), promoting traditional family values
• recent policy they support is the Troubled Families Programme, targeting lone-parent and underclass families to reduce issues like youth offending

Question 3

what does reiches argue?

Answer 3

• doesn’t agree with sex education, emergency pill - encourages sex among teens
• doesn’t agree with same sex couples, single parents
• housewives shouldn’t go to work

Question 4

evidence for new right view

Answer 4

• 52% of children born to cohabiting couples experience parental breakup before age 5, compared to 6% of children born to married couples
• children from broken homes are nearly 5 times more likely to develop emotional problems
• children of separated parents are 3 times more likely to become aggressive or badly behaved
• lone-parent families are twice as likely to live in poverty compared to two-parent families
• children from broken homes are nine times more likely to become young offenders

Question 5

strengths of new right

Answer 5

• rely on correlations between family types and social problems. children from broken families are seen as suffering more social problems than those from two-parent families

Question 6

weaknesses of new right

Answer 6

• correlation ≠ causation: social problems in broken families may be linked to poverty, not family structure
• middle-class bias: the new right’s focus on the nuclear family reflects middle-class values, not broader societal realities
• feminists:
  
  • divorce is not inherently bad; it may be better for women and children to leave unhappy or abusive relationships
  • gender roles are socially constructed and oppressive; new right views on traditional roles harm women
  • single parents: most are not welfare scroungers but need better policies (flexible jobs, child care) rather than pro-marriage policies
• nuclear family decline is exaggerated: most adults still marry, have children, and raise them in two-parent households; many divorcees remarry