social policy and legislation Flashcards
austerity programme
-financial crisis in 2008-9 led to this and hit families hard
-Bradshaw 2013 claims cuts in public spending hit the poorest the most.
-Reed 2012 said it would lead to 120,000 more workless families and 40,000 living in overcrowded housing.
-UNICEF noted that the UK performance on child poverty was poor with it rising to 1.6 compared to Poland where it fell by 8%.
- the NR felt that it failed to deal with the families and the main reason was that it failed to strengthen marriage and family life.
Coalition government
-conservative joined with the Lib Dems.
-conservatives felt the 2011 London Riots were the result of ‘broken families’. this was influenced by a report in 2006 led by a NR and called it ‘Breakdown Britain’ and it claimed
- dissolution- divorce too easy to get
- dysfunction- parents not taking responsibility for their children.
- dad-lessness- too many dads not taking responsibility for their children.
the Labour Government 1997-2010
- created a minister for children for the first time in 2003
- Finch said that their policies moved away from the familial ideal to more individualist outlook, giving equal rights to families who weren’t married, SPFs as well as nuclear families.
- they created ‘Children’s Commissioner’ with the aim of eradicating child poverty.
- this labour government recognised most families were duel earners.
- reduction of 900,000 children in poverty after child tax was introduced.
-Bradshaw noted that child neglect and abuse fell, with happiness in the family in the UK moving up in the international tables.
evaluating the state policy
- the nuclear family still the most likely outcome of such policies. Social policy refers to the plans and actions of state agencies such as health and social services, the welfare benefits system and schools and other bodies.
-tax and welfare policies have generally favoured and encouraged heterosexual married couples, rather than cohabiting couples or single parent/ same sex couples. Allan 1995 suggested that these policies have actively discouraged cohabitation and one parent families.
-policies like the payment of child benefits to the mother have reinforced the idea that women should take prime responsibility for childcare. despite there being the option for maternity and paternity leave it is still overwhelming for the mother and child who chooses to take time off work and then falls behind in terms of pay and promotion opportunities.
family social policy is focused on keeping families intact, supporting parents and producing children who are physiologically well-adjusted and who will conform to cultural expectations because this prevents problems like crime.
The NR overall view on state policy
new right politicians strongly believe that the family and therefore family ideology is in decline and that it is the source to all our social problems.
policies the new right dislike
1967 Equal Pay Act + 1977 Sex Discrimination Act
such policies distract women from their natural calling and has led to the acceptance of childlessness.
2002 allowed same-sex couples to adopt.
Morgan suggested that gay families are unnatural, suggesting that adopting children would not be the outcome of love but wanting to show of having a child like a trophy, who is in fact likely to suffer bullying in the future.
functionalism and the new right
-Fletcher 1969 argued that free schooling and free health care function to help families successfully rear children.
-NR feel the state should have a minimal role and some pieces of legislation have damaged families, eg legislation of same sex marriage, making divorce easier.
Divorce Law Reform Act 1971
it changed the amount of evidence and support you needed to file for a divorce and for those that wanted one, you didn’t have to prove anything.
families just had to show that the marriage had ‘irretrievably broken down’
this made divorce a lot easier for families as they didn’t have to go through the stress of arguing to be on the same terms.
it also allowed women to get out of abusive relationships easier (feminists were in favour of this but new right weren’t)
the troubled families Programme
it identified 120,00 families who were:
-involved in crime and anti-social behaviour
-had adults who had never worked or were long-term unemployed.
-costing the state a lot of money (through poor health and crime)
families like these cost the taxpayer £9 billion and the programme aimed to turn these issues around.
historians say that it presents misleading and inaccurate picture of a British past filled with ‘happy untroubled families’. however it also says that every generation over the last 200 years has expressed concerns and moral panic about ‘troubled’ or ‘problem’ families.
data shows that 3/4 of troubled families who have supposedly ‘turned around’ are still committing crime and being excluded from school/having no job.
