Relationship between sociology and social policy

Question 1

Social policy definition

Answer 1

the packages of plans and actions adopted by national and local governments or various voluntary agencies to solve problems or achieve other social goals which are seen as important

Question 2

Social problem definition

Answer 2

something that is seen as being harmful to society in some way, and needs something doing to sort it out

Question 3

Sociological problem definition

Answer 3

any social or theoretical issue that needs explaining

Question 4

Examples of bodies concerned with social policy research

Answer 4

• Institute of Public Policy Research
• Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Question 5

Giddens (2006) quote

Answer 5

“sociology can help us in our lives”

Question 6

Nine ways sociology contributes to social policy

Answer 6

1. providing an awareness of cultural differences
2. providing self-awareness and understanding
3. changing assumptions
4. providing a theoretical framework
5. providing practical professional knowledge
   6, identifying social problems
6. providing the evidence
7. identifying the unintended consequences of policies
8. assessing the results

Question 7

Sociology contributing to social policy: providing an awareness of cultural differences

Answer 7

• seeing society from different perspectives
• develops an ‘informed awareness’ of and sensitivity to the ways of life, needs and problems of others
• helps policy makers tailor policies more effectively eg with insight provided by research on ethnicity

Question 8

Sociology contributing to social policy: Providing self-awareness and understanding

Answer 8

• Giddens and Beck - growing reflexivity; sociological research can enable people to develop self-awareness and knowledge of their position in society
• reflecting on experiences can help empower people for change eg through groups criticising the inadequacies of current social policies
• wide range of social movements and groups which demand new policies

Question 9

Sociology contributing to social policy: Changing assumptions

Answer 9

• McNeill (1986) - social research can indirectly influence social policy by being absorbed in common-sense assumptions of the dominant culture
• this makes policies seem acceptable or not to the public - eg social provisions for young people to help reduce crime is seen as acceptable but locking up specific types of people wouldn’t be

Question 10

Sociology contributing to social policy: Providing a theoretical framework

Answer 10

• from 1979-1992, conservative governments were heavily influenced by new right theories like the ones developed by Charles Murray (1984) about a workshy underclass
• New Labour government 1997-2010 was influenced by Giddens’ work on new social policies to build social cohesion and solidarity (eg through welfare and education policies aimed to help the most disadvantaged)

Question 11

Sociology contributing to social policy: Providing practical professional knowledge

Answer 11

• sociologists work in a wide range of professions (town planners, journalists, social work, HR etc) which can provide professional inputs for social policy
• journalists can set the agenda for socially acceptable policies
• civil servants can shape and evaluate policy
• eg researchers in the Home Office helped improve the validity of crime statistics by developing the Crime Survey for England and Wales

Question 12

Sociology contributing to social policy: Identifying social problems

Answer 12

• can show that social problems have wider structural causes beyond individual behaviour (eg research on poverty and crime)
• feminist sociologists have identified gender inequality, helping lead to legal changes like the Equal Pay and Equality Acts
• research by Townsend (1979) and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation helped reveal the impacts of poverty on health

Question 13

Sociology contributing to social policy: Providing the evidence

Answer 13

• through collecting evidence (surveys, statistics etc)
• policy makes can use to form evidence-based policies
• can help assure that potential policies would work

Question 14

Sociology contributing to social policy: Identifying the unintended consequences of policies

Answer 14

• research can evaluate existing policies
• eg criticisms of Education Action Zones/Excellence in Cities
• can find latent functions or dysfunctions (Merton)

Question 15

Sociology contributing to social policy: Assessing the results

Answer 15

• research into whether polices have been successful or whether they need changing or scrapping

Question 16

The politics of social policy making

Answer 16

• complex - governments have other factors affecting policy eg funding
• can ignore evidence or use it selectively to justify policies
• Toynbee (2012) - little evidence that imprisoning more people cuts crime rates, by government continues to do so due to public opinion
• Davies (2008) - social policy debates have an ideological base to the

Question 17

Mcneill (1986) - what becomes defined as a social problem depends on

Answer 17

individuals or groups whipping up enough support among those in power to make their concerns an issue for public debate and action

Question 18

Davies - Example of government selectively using social research - Coordinated Prostitution Strategy of 2006

Answer 18

• highly selective
• ignored research on prostitutes clients, which showed that they were not the violent and abusive stereotypes assumed in the policy
• ignored evidence from Sweden that undermined their strategy
• ignore the effectiveness of alternative approaches adopted in other countries

Question 19

Example of government ignoring social research - Reclassifying cannabis to a Class B drug in 2008

Answer 19

• had been downgraded to class c in 2004
• did so despite scientific advice
• UK Drug Policy Commission (2012) - no serious rise in consumption is likely if small amounts of controlled drugs were allowed
• government justified decision citing public health, public concerns and pressures from police
• cannabis use among young people had fallen from 13.4% to 9.4% since downgrading to category c

Question 20

McNeill points out that much sociological research is ignored by those in power because

Answer 20

sociology concerns itself with politically sensitive issues, and findings may be viewed as a threat
eg conservative government buried 1980 Black Report which exposed deep social class inequalities in health but in the 1990s similar research affected Labour (who were more sympathetic to reducing health inequalities)’s strategy

Question 21

Influences on the formation of social policy

Answer 21

• what issues are seen as social problems
• the power of groups (companies) to stop new policies
• desire of governments to be popular and get re-elected
• influence of European Union laws
• financial and resource constraints
• power of groups seeking new policies
• agenda-setting role of the media which can draw attention to certain issues
• public perception of what’s reasonable
• prevailing ideology at the time
• sociological and other research
• willingness of powerful individuals and groups to help the less powerful
• advice from politically aligned research institutes (‘think tanks’)
• policies and ideologies of different political parties

Question 22

Sociological theories/perspectives and social policy

Answer 22

• quantitative positivist research is generally favoured by governments
• some ideologies (New Right, feminist, marxist) see the goal of their research as encouraging social change
• conflict theories are likely to emphasise research that promotes social policies for change
• disagreement among sociologists about extent of involvement with forming social policy

Question 23

The view that sociology should be involved in applied social policy research

Answer 23

• founders of sociology (eg Comte, Durkheim, Marx) all saw sociology as a way of improving society
• many feminist sociologists (esp liberal) think they should be involved with social policy
• Townsend (1979) studied poverty with the goal of informing government
• lots of sociological research relies on funding from government/public bodies
• Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) - independent government funded body for the promotion of social science research (£139 mil budget in 2012-3)
• Marsland (1994 - generally linked with New Right) argues for a ‘fully engaged’ sociology which is committed to social policy and sociologists should be involved with informing and shaping policy

Question 24

The view that sociology should not be involved in applied social policy research

Answer 24

• some organisations and government bodies only fund research for particular purposes (eg government tends to fund quantitative positivist methods) - may be a lack of scope for open-ended free thinking outside the policy framework
• potentially ethical difficulties if data is used to legitimise power or negative treatment of some groups
• research may produce findings which are opposed to the interests of the government (eg the Black Report 1980)
• risk that policy-making (a political process) influences the research to make it less detached
• sociologists may have different ideas of what is a social problem
• policies could be aimed towards a symptom of the problem rather than a root cause

Question 25

The postmodernist view of sociologists’ involvement with social policy

Answer 25

• postmodernists think that sociology should not be involved with policy-making because sociology only provides interpretations of the world rather than universal truths which social policy should be based on
• Bauman and May (2001) suggest all sociology does is provide a commentary on social life, not providing but all sociologists provide different interpretations so sociology’s role is to contribute to social understanding and tolerance by enabling people to understand their lives better not to contribute to social policy