new right views on family

Question 1

Charles Murray

Answer 1

• state spending on benefits had created welfare dependency
• this created the underclass who lacked father figures (come from lone parent families)
• the underclass developed their own norms and values- demonstrating criminal and antisocial behaviours.

Question 2

Key New Right views:

Answer 2

• people should look after themselves and live how they want without state intervention
• free market, individual responsibility and traditional values
• decline of nuclear family seen as a problem- seen as the one correct family type
• divorce enables this decline, marriage is the cornerstone of stability
• lack of adequate socialisation in single parent families
• disliked rights as they were seen as an attack on traditional values
• argue progressive policies made traditonal values decline

Question 3

underclass

Answer 3

level of society below the working class who are on benefits and not in work

Question 4

moral panic

Answer 4

the media causing panic about something that isn’t serious

Question 5

cereal packet family

Answer 5

happy, traditional nuclear family

Question 6

Single mothers statistics

Answer 6

• 1 in 4 families in the UK are single parent and 90% of these are women
• average age of a single mother is 38
• half of single parents had children in marriage
• children of single parents are just as likely to perform well as their peers

Question 7

why has the nuclear family declined since the 70s?

Answer 7

• racial rights
• divorce laws & women’s liberation
• LGBT rights
• contraception & abortion
• change in social norms & stigma
• change in religious beliefs-secularisation
• women in the workplace
• education lasts longer
• housing cost increase
• STI epidemic
• equal opportunities

Question 8

how does lack of nuclear family contribute to educational failure?

Answer 8

• less adult help
• less time to help
• not as much money for resources
• employment while in school to help financially
• not enough encouragement

lower income + family breakdown = more stress & emotional impact

Question 9

how does lack of nuclear family contribute to high crime rates?

Answer 9

• not enough love
• only one adult perspective & role model
• unhealthy or broken family
• deprived living area
• not enough parent time

lower income + family breakdown = more stress & emotional impact

Question 10

policies implemented by new right politicians:

Answer 10

• 1993 child support agency tracks down parents who do not financially support children they live apart from
• less tax for married couples, benefit cuts and 2 child policy for benefits
• section 28, schools cannot teach homosexuality
• crime, parenting classes for parents of antisocial children
• education, parents fined for removing children from school

Question 11

neo-liberal economics

Answer 11

• influenced new right views
• reduction in benefits used as an incentive for employment, greater personal responsibility
• people should be able to choose how to spend their money
• lower state spending, more personal responsibility

Question 12

evaluation of the new right

Answer 12

• feminists: single mothers are scapegoated for problems in society and end up in poverty due to benefit cuts even if they are employed.
• focuses too much on economic growth, leaving charities to deal with other structural issues like poverty.
• focus on trad. values leads to other groups being marginalised which does greater damage to cohesion of society.