social policy Flashcards
what is a social policy
plan/action put in place by gov. to tackle a social issue/ improve people’s lives
Functionalists believe…
- should be there to help families function
- mainly through welfare state which began to form during the Industrial Revolution and accelerates after the World wars
Danzelot is a ____ theorist
conflict
Danzelot
- sees policies as a form of state power and control over families
- interested in how professionals carry out the surveillance of families
- argues that social workers, health visitors & doctors use their knowledge to control & change families
‘policing of families’
DANZELOT:
- social workers, health visitors & doctors use their knowledge to control & change families
- they target the poor as problem families that need to be fixed
Feminists
- liberal feminists ✅
- radicals = there to press women
radical feminists , how do social policies opress women
increasing maternity leave assumes that the woman will be the main caregiver
New right and social policies …
conflict
New right and social policies
- 👀 it as undermining & changing the nuclear family
- ⚠️ for both government + wider society
New right and social policies - solution
- cut social policies within welfare to keep families together and incentivise teens to not get pregnant
example of social policy in China
One child policy (implemented 1980 , ended 2015 - limit of 2 )
Main features of 1 child policy
- 👩❤️👨 only allowed to have 1 child
- £ ❤️ and many benefits
- 💵 bonuses and extra rations
- ↑ treatment in healthcare
- Min. age for marriage (20 – 💁♀️ 22-💁♂️)
- permit to give birth
- State could order late term abortions and sterilizations for women who already had one
aims of the 1 child policy
to control population growth and prevent economic and environmental crises
- Reduce Overpopulation (strain resources)
- Ensure economic development ( slower pop. growth essential for £ modernization and sust. dev)
- Improve Living Standards (better healthcare, education, and social mobility)
Impacts of 1 child policy
☹️ = Encouraged late + compulsory abortion, female infanticide, gender imbalance , little emperors
😊 = curbed pop ↑ , aided £↑, ↑ health and welfare of women and children
One child policy - functionalists
Malthusian Theory :
Aligns with Malthus’ idea that unchecked population ↑ = to resource depletion and social chaos
- The state acted as a “social regulator” to maintain stability.
One child policy - Marxism
- form of state control over the w/c, limiting the size of future laborers to prevent social unrest.
- Feminist Marxists argue that it exploited women by restricting their reproductive rights.
One child policy - Feminism
Radical = criticize the policy for violating women’s bodily autonomy, as many were forced into abortions and sterilizations.
Liberal = step towards gender =, as families prioritized educating daughters rather than just sons.
One child policy - Post Modernism
Eroded traditional family structures, promoting a from extended families to nuclear families.
- government control over reproduction contradicts postmodern ideas of individual choice.
Nazi social policies
what we know about women in nazi germany 😉
adoption example of uk social policy
1949 Adoption Act , stricter regulations for adoption , children placed in safe + stable homes , protecting their welfare
Divorce act
1969 , marital breakdown valid reason for divorce , = ↑ in 1 parent + stepfamilies, freedom to leave unhappy/abusive marriages
context communist Romania
1965: Ceausescu becomes communist leader and implements and increasing repressive rule and personality cult
1989: Ceausescu executed
Romania general communist policies
(apart from communist general policies and sovietisation , com inform and cult of personality)
Romania policies related to childbirth and family
Decree 70 - forced population growth (1966):
- restricted abortion + contraception , birth rate 2x 1966-67
- 5 CHILD POLICY (forced women to bear at least 5 children)
effects of the 5 child policy in Romania
- placement of more than 150-300,000 children into squalid state-run institutions
- over 15,000 of these children died
- women had t be examined by gynaecological police
- propaganda for children to have as many children as possible
