Sociology And Social Policy Flashcards
How do sociologists contribute to social policy?
- Providing an awareness of cultural differences
- Providing self-awareness and understanding
- Changing assumptions
- Providing a theoretical framework
- Providing professional knowledge
- Identifying social problems
- Providing the evidence
- Identifying the unintended consequences of policies
- Assessing the results
How does providing an awareness of cultural differences contribute to social policy?
Seeing society from different perspectives, and developing an ‘informed awareness’ of and sensitivity to the ways of life, needs and problems of others helps policy makers to tailor policies more effectively - such insight is provided by, for example, research on ethnicity or disability.
How does providing self-awareness and understanding contribute to social policy?
Sociology develops a knowledge and understanding of ourselves, why we behave as we do, and our position within society. There is a growing reflexivity in late modernity, which was discussed in terms of Giddens and Beck; sociological research can enable individuals and groups to develop self-awareness and understanding of their positions in society by reflecting on it. Reflecting on experiences like racism, domestic violence, sex discrimination, and prejudice and discrimination rising from disability can have the effect of empowering people to change their lives. This can encourage people to form support and pressure groups with those facing similar experiences. Such groups are often concerned with criticising the inadequacies of existing social policies, forming new ones to address their needs with evidence to support them, and existing social policies, forming new ones to address their needs with evidence to support them, and exerting pressure on government to implement them.
How does changing assumptions contribute to social policy?
McNeil suggests social research can indirectly influence social policy by being absorbed into the taken-for-granted common sense assumptions involved in society’s dominant culture. This can make government social policies seem either reasonable and acceptable, or subjects of ridicule.
How does proving a theoretical framework contribute to social policy?
Between 1979-1992, the Conservative governments were strongly influenced by the New Right ideas of Charles Murray, whose understandings of poverty and the undeserving workshy welfare-dependent underclass provided basis for savage cuts in welfare benefits and welfare state funding and attacks on the poor throughout the 1980s. Such a New Right inspired policy framework resurfaced in the Conservative led coalition government after 2010, which again reinstated attacks on welfare benefits based on the idea of the workshy underclass.
By contrast, the New Labour government of 1997-2010 was led by a prime minister who was a fan of sociologist Giddens. Giddens provided the theoretical basis for new social policies based around building social cohesion and social solidarity, and reducing social problems posing threats to social order. These were implemented and included welfare, health and education policies which were more supportive of the most disadvantaged in society, and policies to tackle social exclusion, including the national minimum wage to reduce poverty.
How does providing practical professional knowledge contribute to social policy?
Sociologists work in a wide range of other occupations, such as town planning, social work, journalism, human resource management, and in the civil service. All of these can provide professional inputs as social policy is formed in a range of areas. Journalism, for example, has an important role in setting the agenda for publicly acceptable social policies. Sociologists are also employed as civil servants in government departments like the Department for Work and Pensions and the Home Office, where they play a direct role in shaping and evaluating policy. For example, it was researchers in the Home Office, where they play a direct role in shaping and evaluating policy. For example, it was researchers in the Home Office who helped to improve the validity of crime statistics by the development of the British Crime Survey (now called the CSEW). Such researchers are constantly involved in both commissioning and carrying out research, and briefing the media, MPs, and government ministers about the effectiveness of social policies.
How does identifying social problems contribute to social policy?
Sociologists can do some ‘blue sky’ thinking, peering into the future, and can ask questions and identify social problems that arise from more open sociological thinking. Sociological ideas can also help shape policy by showing that social problems have wider structural causes beyond the behaviour of individuals, as shown by sociological research on poverty and crime.
Many social problems have been identified by the work of sociologists. Feminist sociologists have carried out a great deal of theoretical and practical research revealing the nature and extent of inequalities and discrimination against women in areas such as pay and employment, and suggesting solutions to them. This has fed into legal changes such as the Sex Discrimination, Equal Pay and Equality Acts. In the UK, poverty research by Townsend as well as that carried out by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, has exposed the extent of poverty, and the Black Report of 1980 revealed the huge inequalities in health. Similar examples are research highlighting the continuing problems of racism, and studies of attacks on and harassment of gays.
Why do governments sometimes choose to ignore evidence for policies?
Governments can, and frequently do, choose to ignore evidence when they form policy, or only use research selectively to justify social policies which are driven by their political ideologies rather than by hard research evidence. Policy advice to political parties and governments is often provided by research institutes which are broadly politically aligned. Such think tanks will often provide evidence that supports the ideological and political preferences of governments and political parties.
Whether policy advice is accepted by governments or political parties will also be influenced by their desire to win elections, and if a policy - no matter how sound the evidence might be - is unlikely to be popular with the public, then it stands less chance of being adopted. Toynbee cites the example of crime - she argues that there is little evidence that putting more criminals in prison lowers crime rates, and the Ministry of Justice’s own research suggests that prison cuts crime so little that it hardly justifies the money it costs to lock up prisoners. Toynbee points out that cries by politicians for more police on the beat to cut crime ignores the fact that each police officer on the beat will only come within 100 metres of a crime once every with years - and then probably won’t see it. Yet politicians ignore such evidence, and call for tougher measures on crime, more police and more imprisonment, even when crime rates are falling. They ignore more effective policies for reducing crime, like policies to stop people offending in the first place, because calls for more police and more imprisonment are what works with the voters.
What are the views of social policy?
Quantitative positivist research is generally more favoured by governments, and positivists themselves often take the view that their research provides objective data on which governments can form policies. Sociologists working from a functionalist or New Right perspective, or from a feminist perspective, often see their research as a means of changing society through social policies, though often with completely different outcomes. For example, the New Right, such as found in the work of Charles Murray, sees the aim of social policy as reducing the involvement of the state in people’s lives and encouraging self-help, such as cutting back on what they regard as an over-generous welfare state, eliminating the dependency culture and strengthening the traditional family and marriage as alternative sources of support. Many feminists see their research as a means of providing evidence to implement social policies that undermine social patriarchy and remove discrimination against women. Conflict theorists of all kinds are likely to emphasise research that promotes social policies that reduce social inequality and poverty, and the social conflict that arises from them.
Why should sociology be involved in applied social policy research?
- Comte, Durkheim and Marx, all saw the study of the social world as a means of improving society, reflecting the modernist concern with scientific study and a belief in progress. Many sociologists have taken the view that their work in identifying and explaining social problems should lead them to make specific social policy recommendations for the implementation of practical measures to solve the problems they’ve identified. Not to do so is simply refusing to take any responsibility for the findings of their work.
- Liberal feminists regard many existing social policies as supporting patriarchy and discrimination against women and therefore they seek to change them through their research evidence. They have undertaken research h a wide range of issues, such as the changing nature of families; lone parenthood; unequal opportunities for, and discrimination against, women in employment; domestic violence, and the continuing underachievement of girls in education, with a view to changing laws and policies to improve the positions of women.
- Another very practical reason to get involved in applied research is the issue of funding. In order to carry out research, grants are needed, and the largest funding agency for research is the government and other public bodies. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is an independent government-funded body for the promotion of social science research, with research spending of around £139 million in 2012-13, providing substantial grants to social science researchers, often linked to social policy issues. Other funding bodies are charitable trusts like the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which is specifically concerned with applied research on poverty and related issues, and provides £5 million a year for these purposes. Research funds are so substantial that those that choose not to get involved in applied local research are likely to find themselves short of funds.
- Marsland (New Right) argues that sociologists should be fully and actively involved in the policy process, and this would produce positive benefits for the community through evidence based policy making, and assessment of policy objectives and achievements. He argues that, if sociologists don’t involve themselves in applied research, this won’t stop the research being carried out, but sociology will become marginalised, and policy areas will be less well informed. He also suggests that either ‘social policies will take account of relevant sociological knowledge or they are bound to fail’.
- If sociologist don’t get involved then SP will be even more vulnerable to manipulation by powerful groups with their own interests to promote.
Why should sociology NOT be involved in applied social policy research?
- Funding issues can restrain research.
- Research does sometimes have to meet the approval of funding bodies, (less so for the ESRC). Some charities and the JRF’s (Joseph Rowntree Foundation) requirements are quite specific.
- Some FBs may want more reliable positivistic research methods which produce quantitative data.
- Some FBs say no ‘blue sky’ research - they don’t want open ended free thinking outside of a policy framework.
- There will be ethical difficulties for Feminists and Marxists who would find it impossible to be detached.
- Sociologists may produce findings that oppose the interests of government or challenge existing policies, their findings may be ignored (Black Report). They may be silenced and applied work becomes part of the political process.
- What happens to objectivity if policy makers are able to pick and choose from findings. Sociologists may be unable to maintain professional integrity.
- Sociologists may have different conceptions of what social problems are, and what measures are necessary to solve them from those in power. They often have no control over the use of their work and they may have to make unreasonable compromises.
What is the postmodern view of sociology influencing social policy?
- They believe sociologists should not be involved in social policy research because sociology provides just one interpretation of the world.
- Bauman says sociologists provide a commentary on social life, and it is not possible to possess a monopoly of wisdom in understanding the world.
- They suggest that sociology’s role is to contribute, not to the formation of social policy but to social understanding and tolerance, by enabling people to understand more about themselves and others.
What do functionalists believe about social policy?
Like the positivists, they see the state as serving the interests of society as a whole, producing and implementing rational social policies for the good of all. These policies help society run more smoothly and efficiently. For example, educational policies are seen as promoting equal opportunity and social integration, while health and housing policies assist the family and performance functions more effectively.
Functionalist favour social policies that sometimes refer to as ‘piecemeal social engineering’. In other words, they favour a cautious approach, tackling one specific issue at a time.
Marxist argue that educational policies aimed at equalising opportunities for children of different classes often defeated by the influence of poverty in wider society. We need to change the basic structure of society in order to solve the specific problems.
What do Marxists believe about social policy?
Policies provide ideological legitimation to mass capitalist exploitation. For example, the welfare state gives capitalism a human face making it appear that the system cares about the poor, sick and old.
They maintain the labour force for further expectation. For example, the NHS says cats of capitalism by keeping workers fit enough to work. They are a means of preventing revolution when class conflict intensifies and threatens the stability of capitalism. For example, Marxist see the policies that created the welfare state of the World War II as a way of buying off working-class opposition to capitalism.
Westergaard and Resler believe that if sociologists such as Townsend encourage more benefits this will only serve to reduce class solidarity.
Critics argue that Marxist views on social policy and the role of sociologists are impractical and unrealistic. Social Democrats criticise them for rejecting the idea that research can help bring about progressive policies within the capitalist system. Poverty researchers have at times had some positive impact on policy
What do feminists believe about social policy?
Society is patriarchal, benefiting men at women’s expense, and state perpetuates women’s subordination through its social policies.
For example, family policies may assume that the normal family is a conventional nuclear family with a heterosexual married couple. Thus, if the state assumes this and offers benefits to married couples but not to cohabiting ones, these policies may produce a self-fulfilling prophecy, encouraging the kind of family that the status seems to be the norm in the first place and making it more difficult for people to live in other kinds of families.
In education, feminism has influenced policies such as learning materials that promotes more positive images of females and training to sensitive teachers for the need to avoid gender bias.
On the other hand, radical feminist ideas have also had some influence on social policy. They favour separatism - the idea that women need to separate themselves from meant to be free from patriarchy. One policy that reflects this is refuges for women escaping domestic violence. For example the Women’s Aid Federation supports a national network of over 500 such services, often with funding from governments
