SOCIAL POLICY

Question 1

What does social policy mean?

Answer 1

Social policy means the plans,programmes, action and laws passed by governments and government agencies.

Question 2

Give examples of social policies?

Answer 2

1. The 1969 Divorce Act (and the 1984 Divorce Act)
2. Maternity and Paternity Policy – The Employment Protection Act of 1975 and the
   ‘Paternity Act’ (2010)
3. The Civil partnerships Act 2004 and the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013
4. The Adoption Act 2002 (came into force 2005)
5. The Child Benefit Acts (1975) and significant changes (1998 and 2013)

Question 3

What does Ronald Fletcher say about social policies?

Answer 3

Social polices benefit all members of society and make life better for families each generation.
-e.g. housing, health and education-polices since industrial revolution have led to a welfare state which support the family.

Question 4

Give 3 criticisms to functionalism viewpoint on social policy?

Answer 4

1) Assumes that all embers of the family benefit from state policies
2) Assumes a march of progress-policies get better and better and that families are always better off.
3) Assumes that the traditional nuclear is normal and natural since it is based on biological difference. Feminists argue that it is very outdated.

Question 5

What is the New Right viewpoint on social policy?

Answer 5

The New Right have had considerable influence on government thinking about social policy and its
effects on family. They see the traditional nuclear family, with its division of labour between a male
provider and a female home maker as self-reliant and capable of caring for its members. In their
view, social policies should avoid doing anything that might undermine this natural self-reliant
family.
The New Right criticise many existing government policies for undermining the family. In particular,
they argue that governments often weaken the family’s self-reliance by providing overly generous
welfare benefits. These include providing council housing for unmarried teenage mothers and
cash payments to support lone parent families.

Question 6

What does Charles Murray argue?

Answer 6

Charles Murray (1984) argues that these benefits offer ‘perverse incentives’ – that is, they reward
irresponsible or anti-social behaviour. For example –
• If fathers see that the state will maintain their children some of them will abandon their
responsibilities to their families
• Providing council housing for unmarried teenage mothers encourages young girls to
become pregnant
• The growth of lone parent families encouraged by generous welfare benefits means more
boys grow up without a male role model and authority figure. This lack of paternal authority is
responsible for a rising crime rate amongst young males.

Question 7

Give 3 criticism of the New Right?

Answer 7

1) Feminists argue that their polices are an attempt to justify a return to the traditional nuclear
family, which works to subordinate women
2)Cutting benefits may simply drive many into poverty, leading to further social problems
3)it assumes that the patriarchal nuclear family is natural rather than socially constructed.

Question 8

What is the viewpoint of Marxism?

Answer 8

Same policies come about simply because the serve the needs of capitalism e.g women during the war.

Question 9

Give 2 criticisms for Marxism

Answer 9

1) Assumes that the patriarchal nuclear family is purely a function of capitalism yet almost all people throughout time and culture have developed strong family structures.
2) Sees the family entirely in terms of economic and ignores all the other functions performed by the family.

Question 10

What is the viewpoint of feminism on social policy?

Answer 10

Liberal Feminists argue that that changes such as the equal pay act and increasingly generous
maternity leave and pay are sufficient to bring about gender equality. The following social policies
have led to greater gender equality:
• The divorce act of 1969 gave women the right to divorce on an equal footing to men – which
lead to a spike in the divorce rate.
• The equal pay act of 1972 was an important step towards women’s independence from
men.
• Increasingly generous maternity cover and pay made it easier for women to have children
and then return to work.

Question 11

What is Jacques Donzelot viewpoint?(Functionalist)

Answer 11

Jacques Donzelot (1977) has a conflict view of society and sees policy as a form of state power and control over families.

Donzelot uses Michel Foucault’s (1976) concept of surveillance (observing and monitoring). Foucault sees power not just as something held by the government or the state, but as diffused (spread) throughout society and found within all relationships. In particular, Foucault sees professionals such as doctors and social workers as exercising power over their clients by using their expert knowledge to turn them into ‘cases’ to be dealt with.

Donzelot applies these ideas to the family. He is interested in how professionals carry out surveillance of families. He argues that social workers, health visitors and doctors use their knowledge to control and change families. Donzelot calls this ‘the policing of families’.