New Right view on the nuclear family in contemporary society

Question 1

what are most new right thinkers?

Answer 1

-most new right thinkers are politicians, writers and journalists not sociologists

Question 2

what so the New Right say about traditional family life?

Answer 2

-they say that traditional marriage and family life as breaking down and argue that a consequence of this has been poorly socialised children who tend to underachieve in school, a rise in crime and an increasing number of lone mothers who depend on the welfare state rather than being supported by fathers of the children

Question 3

what do the new right want?

Answer 3

-the new right call for a return to what they refer to as traditional family values, including couples waiting to marry before they have children, fathers taking responsibility for economically supporting their wives and children through paid employment and women focusing on their traditional role of raising children rather than careers

Question 4

what do new right supporters think about government decisions?

Answer 4

-some supporters of the new right have attacked the governments decision to legalise a same sex Marriage, arguing that children need a parent of each sex and that allowing gay marriage undermines the traditional bais of marriage as a union between a man

Question 5

what did Murray’s study about the underclass and the disintegration of family life find?

Answer 5

• Murray argues that in both Britain and the US, an underclass has emerged made up of the poorest people at the bottom of society who are dependent on welfare benefits rather than work
• Murray also argues that lone parent families mostly headed by women for a significant section of this underclass and that children especially boys growing u with no father figure are likely to turn to crime and fare worse at school

Question 6

who does murray blame for the disintegration of family life?

Answer 6

• Murray blames successive governments which he argues have rewarded irresponsible behaviour in he form of having children outside marriage by giving over generous welfare benefits to lone mothers, creating what he calls welfare dependency
• he also argues that politicians another leading figures in society have not done enough to support the institution of marriage and as a result cohabitation, having children outside marriage and divorce have all become far too socially acceptable
• Murray has even gone as far as to say that lone mothers should have their children adopted

Question 7

what are the evaluation points of the New Right view on families?

Answer 7

\+Dennis and Erdos (2000)
\+Evidence
-focus on the golden age
-Bernades (1997)
-too much blame on governments
-Chambers (2001)

Question 8

how does Dennis and Erdos’ (2000) study support the New Right view?

Answer 8

• they argue that children raised by single mothers on average have lower educational attainment and poor health than children from two parent families
• boys in particular group up without learning that adulthood involves taking responsibility for a wife, children and so develop into immature, irresponsible and antisocial men.

Question 9

which evidence supports the New Right view?

Answer 9

• New Right arguments reflect the concerns of more conservative groups in British society about changes in family life
• few sociologists would dispute the evidence that fewer people are living in nuclear families, divorce levels are much higher than they were up to in the 1970s and more people are living together and having caused controversy is in portraying these trends as representing the undermining of family life and the source of social problems
• where the new right have caused controversy is in portraying these trends as representing the undermining of family life and the source of social problems

Question 10

how is focusing on the golden age a weakness of the new right view?

Answer 10

• new right thinkers have been accused of looking back to a golden age of family life from the mid 19th century to the mid 20th century where marriage was respected and where the nuclear family was overwhelmingly the norm
• in reality lone parent families, cohabitation and sexual relationships outside of marriage have always existed but were often concealed in the past
• moreover people who did not fit into conventional families, such as lone mothers and gay people, often receive harsh treatment which most people would find unacceptable today

Question 11

how is bernades (1997) a weaknes of the new right view?

Answer 11

-bernades reflects the view that individuals should be free to choose what kind of family works best for them, for some the traditional nuclear family does not suit their needs. bernades argues that governments need to recognise the diversity of families and government policy should support all families equally

Question 12

how is the fact that the new right view is negative a weakness?

Answer 12

• Murray describes the underclass as the new rabble
• critics argue that this is a victim blaming approach where people are blamed for their own poverty because of low wages, inadequate state benefits and lack of jobs rather than a wish to live off the state

Question 13

how is chambers (2001) a weakness of the new right view?

Answer 13

• chambers argues that many of the fears about lone parent families and the decline of marriage and family life are a moral panic and overreaction to supposed social problems
• this moral panic was whipped up by sections of the media and right wing politicians in the 1990s in a bid to justify cuts in government spending on benefits and to blame groups such as lone parents for a variety of problems