New Right View on The Family Flashcards
What has the New Right view been influenced by
Functionalism
What does the New Right theory believe
That the heterosexual nuclear family underpinned by marriage is the ideal type of family that all should aspire to
What do the New Right believe about the nuclear family
That the nuclear family is under attack and in threat of extinction because of government social policy which has encouraged the emergence of alternative lifestyles such as cohabitation, homosexuality and divorce
Why have the New Right criticised the governments
They criticised them for not doing enough to protect the nuclear family and for creating the conditions in which ‘immoral’ alternatives have been encouraged to emerge.
What does Murray (1990,1994 and 2001) believe
That the welfare state is causing the disintegration of the nuclear family because he alleges that benefits encourage teenage pregnancy and single-parent families who lose control of their children
What do the New Right believe that government should do more
Encourage marriage and nuclear family life by rewarding people who marry with generous tax breaks compared with single people, the divorced and those who cohabitate
What do Dennis and Erdos claim
That children, especially boys, raised by single mothers are likely to experience problems at school as well as poor health compared with children raised in nuclear families
What are New Right thinkers criticised for looking back to and what sociologist supports this
The ‘golden age’ of family life that probably never exist.
Bernardes (1997) argues that the nuclear family portrayed by the New Right is ‘too good to be true’ and fails to acknowledge the negative side of the family like abuse.
What have New Right been accused of
Scapegoating particular types of families, especially the one-parent family, as responsible for society’s ills when the culprit for problems that often exist within families is poverty
What have the New Right been criticised on to do with social policy
They claim that government social policy has specifically aimed to destabilise marriage and the nuclear unit is not supported by the evidence.
Social policy has failed because most people marry and most people choose to live in nuclear families. Moreover, cohabitation is often a prelude to successful marriage and may actually prevent divorce
What has Chambers (2001) accused the New Right of
Of creating undue fears - a moral panic about so-called problem families in order to justify cuts in welfare spending.
What do the Feminists argue against the New Right view
That most social policy has largely supported the patriarchal nuclear family. Feminists claim that family social policy has largely confided women to the home, by confirming that they should take prime responsibility for children.