sociology and social policy

Question 1

social problems

Answer 1

in some way harmful to society
Worsley - something which causes public friction/ private misery and needs some collective action to solve it e.g., social policy

Question 2

contribution of sociology on social policy

Answer 2

sociological research into poverty, health, education, and crime has huge influence on government policy
e.g., institute of public policy research

Question 3

factors - ideological and policy preferences of government

Answer 3

if values of researcher are similar to political ideology of the party in power, stand more chance in influencing its policies
e.g., New Right ideology (Murray)

Question 4

factors - critical sociology

Answer 4

sociological perspectives that are seen to be critical of the state and other powerful groups may be regarded as extreme, hostile, or impractical and therefore unlikely to influence policy
e.g., marxists research likely to propose measures that governments are going to consider extreme

Question 5

factors - cost and funding resources

Answer 5

if theres not sufficient funds, government unable to implement measures - especially if area of research may not be priority at that time
results may be influenced by funders - may tone down recommendations to fit in with their wishes
govenrments may recruit sociologists whom they know share their assumption and values, to produce findings to justify their policy
use ‘think tanks’ to research - different ones known to have different political allegiances so the government will choose those with the political leaning they wish to promote

Question 6

Feminist perspective - view society

Answer 6

Based on conflict between genders
see society based on patriarchy (male dominated) benefitting men at women’s expense

Question 7

feminist perspective - role of state

Answer 7

state perpetuates women’s subordination through their social policies
e.g., state bases policies on nuclear family so offers benefits to married couples and not cohabiting ones
thus creating self-fulfilling prophecy by encouraging nuclear family and making it difficult for other kinds of families

Question 8

feminist perspective - effect of sociology on social policy

Answer 8

see research as having an impact on education - positive changes in the images of females in teaching materials
creation of women’s refuges for women espcaping domestic violence (impact of radical feminism on social policy)
feminist movement impacted policy on equaliity - sex discrimination and equal pay act

Question 9

feminist perspective - criticisms

Answer 9

marxist and radical feminists reject the view that these changes in law can liberate women
argue society needs more far-reaching changes that the existing staate cannot deliver

Question 10

marxist perspective - view society

Answer 10

society divided by a fundemental conflict of interest in which the ruling capitalist class exploit the labour of the working class
state represents the ruling class, and its social policies serve the interests of capitalism, and not society as a whole

Question 11

marxist - role of state

Answer 11

represents RC so its policies serve the interest of capitalism and not society as a whole
social policy - legitimises RC ideology by providing welfare staate, helps to mask capitalism by making it appear they care about the poor, sick and oil
maintians the labour force for further exploitation - e.g., NHS keeps workers fit enough to work
means of preventing revolution when class conflict threatens capitalism (e.g., the creation of the welfare state after the war was a way of making sure the WC did not rise up and oppose capitalism)
social policy does sometimes provide real benefits to WC, however the provision of benefits and services are constantly threatened by welfare cuts

Question 12

marxist - effect of sociology on social policy

Answer 12

see that reports like black report are easily buried by capitalims
report showed in great detail the extent of which ill-health and death are unequally distributed among the population of Britain
they wont carry out such recommendations as they put profit before human needs

Question 13

Marxist - role of sociologist

Answer 13

criticise capitalist social policy and reveal the exploitation that underpins capitalims and the way the ruling class uses social policy to mask its exploitation and prevent revolution through minor concessions

Question 14

marxist - criticisms

Answer 14

impractical and unrealistic
rejects idea that sociological research can bring about change in capitalist society
poverty research has had some positive impact on policy

Question 15

functionalist - view on society

Answer 15

based on value conssensus which is free from conflict

Question 16

functionalist - role of sociology

Answer 16

early functionalists (e.g., Durkheim) views sociology as science
believed through scientific research they could discover both problems and solutions to society’s problems (enlightenment project)
role to provide state with objective scientific informatin that they can use to base their policies on
e.g., durkheim’s research led him to proposing an education system based on merit and the abolition of inherited welath (more cohesive society)

Question 17

functionalist - effect of sociology on social policy

Answer 17

saw state as serving the interests of society as a whole
produce social policies that were for the good of all so policies can help society run more smoothly and efficiently
e.g., educational policies that promote equal opportunity
functionalists take cautious approach - tend to look at one issue at a time - called ‘piecemeal social engineering’
(piecmeal approach)

Question 18

functionalist - criticisms

Answer 18

marxists criticise piecemeal approach - argue that issues in wider society need to be twackled before specific issues can be addresses
e.g., before you can produce educaitonal policy aimed at equalising opportunity for children from different social classes, need to tackle bigger problem of inequality in society
being about change in basic structure of society first

Question 19

New Right - view states involvement in society

Answer 19

state should have minimal involvement in society
opposed to the state’s involvement in family, income support, education, and health
feel that this takes away people’s choices and takes away their feeling of responsibility
believe can lead to crime and delinquency
Murray - argues thaat welfare state gives ‘perverse incentives’ this weakens self-reliance and encourages a dependency culture
creates an underclass of individuals

Question 20

New right - role of sociologists with regard to social policy

Answer 20

want sociologists to come up with alternative polciies to the existing onces
want these new policie sto restore responsibility that welfare state has taken away from individuals
want individuals to take responsibility for their own and family’s welfares rather than leaving it to the stat e
favoured by conservatives and more recently new labour - role of social policy is to enable people to help themselves rather than have a welfare state do it for them
Murray - perverse incentives and dependency culture

Question 21

New right - criticisms

Answer 21

quality of data used in studies such as Murray’s has been questioned
criticised for not using sociological studies using instead politically bias think tanks