Socal Policy Family Flashcards
Fletcher view on policies
Health education and housing policies led to welfare state which supports family in completing its functions
New right views on social policy
Negative influence on society promoting family diversity and disintegration of society
feminism view on policies
assuming normal families are patriarchal nuclear families with a female breadwinner and female homemaker.
social policies ensure this family type is maintained
what do feminists and marxists argue state families are formed around?
dominant family ideology
what is dominant family ideology?
a set of ideas, beliefs and images about family life and how
it should be lived.
what does dominant family ideology reflect?
- functionalist view of the family
- policies of the New Right
Barret and Mclntosh
stereotype of dominant family ideology is harmful and anti-social
how is the dominant family ideology patriarchal?
exploits women through triple shift which increases women’s dependence on men
how is the dominant family ideology harmful?
- suggests that those in other relationships or living alone are somehow deviant and a threat to ‘normal family lives’ - Lone parents especially have been attacked by New Right and media- seen as ‘inadequate’ for bringing up children and the source of social problems.
- ignores the dark side of family life and prevents these issues being taken seriously -
how is dominant family ideology anti-social?
devalues life outside the family, alternative households and relationships
functionalists on social policy
the state as acting in the interests of society as a whole and its social policies as being for the good of all.
see policies as helping families to perform their functions more effectively and make life better for their members.
Fletcher - functionalist
introduction of health, education and housing policies has gradually led to the development of the welfare state that supports the family in performing its functions more effectively.
criticisms of functionalist view
- assumes all members of family benefit equally from social policies. Whereas feminists argue policies often benefit men at the expense of women.
- assumes there is a ‘march of progress’ with social policies steadily making family life
better and better. However, Marxists argue polices can turn the clock back, reversing progress previously made e.g. cutting welfare benefits to poor families.
Donzelot
sees policy as a form of state power and control over family. . rejects the functionalists ‘march on progress’ view that social policy and those that carry it out have created a better freer or more humane society.
how does Donzelot use Foucault’s concept of surveillance and apply it to how it is used on the family by doctors, health visitors and social workers ‘policing the family’?
focusing on how the ‘caring professions’ act as agents of social control - shows the
importance of professional knowledge as a form of power and control.
Surveillance does not target all
social classes equally.
Poor families more likely to be seen as ‘problems.’
Condry
state may seek to regulate family life through imposing compulsory Parenting Orders through the courts.
Parents of young offenders, truants or badly behaved children may be forced to attend parenting classes to learn the ‘correct’ way to bring up their children,
why do Marxists and feminists criticize Donzelot?
failing to identify clearly who benefits from policies of surveillance.
Marxists argue social policies generally benefit the capitalist class, while feminists see men as the main beneficiaries.
new right on families
- Favour ‘traditional nuclear family,’ based on married, heterosexual couple with a male provider and a female homemaker.
- this family type = naturally self-reliant and capable of caring
and providing for its members, especially successful socialization of children. - they would see growing divorce, cohabitation, same sex partnerships and lone parenthood as a threat to traditional family, and producing social problems e.g. welfare dependency.
new right - Almond
- Laws that make divorce easier undermine marriage commitments.
- 2014 introduction of civil partnerships sent out the message that the state no longer sees
heterosexual relationships as superior - Tax laws discriminate against conventional families with a sole (usually male) breadwinner.
cannot transfer non-working partner’s tax allowance to the working partner, so tend to pay more tax than dual-earner couples, each of whom has a tax allowance. - point to increased rights e.g. adoption and pension rights when a partner dies, begin to
make cohabitating and marriage more similar,
new right - Murray
- critical of welfare policy seeming ‘generous’ - welfare benefits such as council housing for unmarried teenage mothers and cash payments to support lone parents - undermining nuclear family and encouraging deviant behaviour.
- argues welfare benefits offer
‘perverse incentives’ rewarding irresponsible or anti-social behaviour.
For example: - fathers see that the state will maintain their children for them, some will abandon their
responsibilities towards their family. - Providing council housing for unmarried teenage mothers encourages teenagers to become
pregnant. - growth of lone parent families, encouraged by generous benefits, means more boys grow up without male role models. - lack of parental authority is responsible for rising crime among young males.
how does the new right see current social policies
encouraging a dependency culture, where individuals
depend upon the state to support themselves and their children, instead of being self-reliant.
This threatens 2 essential functions that the family fulfills in society.
1. The successful socialization of the young.
2. The maintenance of the work ethnic amongst men.
new right solutions
- Cuts to welfare spending and tighter restrictions on who is eligible for benefits.
They believe this would
1. Remove incentive for teenage pregnancy
2. Reduce taxation which gives fathers more incentive to work. - Introduce policies to support the traditional nuclear family – e.g. taxes that favour married couples making absent fathers responsible for their children.
evaluation on new right
- Feminists argue it is an attempt to justify the return to the traditional patriarchal nuclear family that subordinated women to men and confined them to a domestic role.
- wrongly assumes the patriarchal nuclear family is natural rather than socially constructed.
- Abbott and Wallace - cutting benefits will drive poor families into even greater poverty and make them even more reliant.
- The New Right ignores many policies that support and maintain the conventional nuclear family
rather than undermine it.
Feminist view of social policies
help to create and maintain patriarchal roles and relationships which they assume are the norm.
Tax and benefit policies
Many assume husbands are the main wage earners and that wives are their financial dependents -
impossible for wives to claim social security payments in their own rights.
childcare
government gives some money
it is not enough to permit parents to work full time unless they can pay the additional cost.
Policies governing school timetables and holidays make it hard for parents (usually mothers) to work.
care for sick and elderly
policies often assume the family will provide care.
In general, this is middle aged women who do this – therefore
can’t work full time and are economically dependent on their partners.
Leanard - even policies
that appear to support women may reinforce patriarchal
family
Maternity leave policies – much more generous than paternity leave.
Maternity benefits are low
Child benefit paid to the mother
Drew ‘gender regimes’ to describe how social policies in different countries can either
encourage or discourage gender equality.
- Familistic gender regimes -
Traditional gender division Male breadwinner, female housewife and carer
e.g. Greece little state welfare women – child and elderly care
Since 2008 cutbacks in government spending
throughout Europe has led to more women taking up this role. - Individualistic gender regimes
Husband and wives treated equally for breadwinning and domestic tasks.. Each person
has a separate entitlement to state benefits, provision of childcare.
Women less dependent on men.
