Social policies- Families and households Flashcards
define social policies
Laws made by the government which aim to improve society or deal with a social policy
What are the two types of social policy?
1- Providing Material Support for the family such as cash benefits through tax credit and child support
2- Helping parents to balance working life and family life such as maternity pay, early years of childcare and child protection laws
Roland Fletcher
Health, education and housing policies have led to the welfare state which supports the family in completing its functions
new righters
- as they are strong believers that the conventual heterosexual nuclear family is the most sufficient, they are against any policies which promote family diversity and the disintegration of society
- They also undermine the family and weaken families self- resilience through providing them with generous welfare benefits
Marxism
- Marxists see family policy as a way for the ruling class to maintain their capitalist control of society and ensure that the family continues to support capitalism.
- They don’t believe that social policies benefit people equally. For example, when workers are too old to produce profits, they are maintained at the lowest costs possible.
Feminism
- See social policies as assuming what a normal family is patriarchal nuclear family with a male breadwinner and a female homemaker. They maintain this family type.
- For example, maternity leave being longer for women compared to men assumes that the mother of the child is who will be its primary caregiver.
Functionalists
- Social policies help families perform their functions more efficiently.
- The state acts in interest of society as a whole and being beneficial for all
- They assume that there is a march of progress with social policies steadily making family life better
Jacque Donzeiot
- Sees social policies as a form of state power over families
- Social workers, health visitors and doctors use their knowledge to control and change poorer families which is known as ‘the policing of families
the policing of families
Social workers, health visitors and doctors use their knowledge to control and change poorer families. For example, parents of misbehaved children being forced to go to parenting classes.
Outline of divorce reform act 1969
- Made divorce easier to obtain for women
- no need for them to prove adultery, abuse or abandonment
Divorce reform act 1969- impact on family
- increase in family diversity, especially single parent families and reconstituted families
- Increased women’s independence
Outline of legalisation of contraception pill1967
- Made it legal for women who were unmarried to obtain the contraceptive pill
legalisation of contraception pill1967- impact on family
- Women had control over their bodies and how many children they had
- decline in the birth rate
Outline of beverage report 1942
- Introduced the welfare state including housing benefit and the NHS
Beverage report 1942- impact on family
- Lead to the removal of some of the functions of the family to the welfare state
When were conservative policies made?
1980-1990
aim of conservative policies
strengthen the traditional nuclear family, emphasising the self help and resilience by reducing welfare payments
When were new labour policies made?
1997-2010
New labour policies aims
- favoured dual earning families but also emphases the heterosexual nuclear family and for parents to take responsibility for their children, some support for alternative family types
When were coalition policies made?
2010 onwards
Coalition policies aims
Inconsistent policies on the family due to conflict between two camps of MP’s :
- Modernists who accept diversity
- Traditionalists who favour a New Right view
Conservative policies examples
- children’s act 1989
- child support agency 1993
- married men’s tax allowance
new labour policies examples
- Longer maternity leave
- Parenting orders
- Unmarried couples adoption
conservative policies examples
- Removed couples penalty
- Shared parental leave
- Equal Marriage act
