State Policy Flashcards
Impact on family structures
Increased cohabitation and delayed marriage - women focused more on their careers, availability of contraception and legalisation of abortion
increased divorce - divorce reform act has lead to more breakdowns of the family, increasing the amount of lone parent households and reconstituted families. Creation of welfare state means that resident parents could get greater financial support from the state for looking after children - single parent benefits and child tax credits
same sex families - decriminalisation of homosexuality, civil partnerships in 2005 and equal rights for same sex marriages in 2013 have impacted on family structures and attitudes
more lone parent families - welfare state provides protections for lone parent families which has led to welfare dependancy. Lone parent adoption means men and women can parent alone.
Impacts of policy on childhood
Changes to childhood
• Children dependant on adults for longer - Cuts to student grants and tuition fees, more students staying at home. Creation of zero hour contracts, leading to boomerang kids who come home whenever they leave employment or if they can’t afford rent.
Extension to compulsory schooling means students require adult financial support for longer.
- Postman - Childhood is disappearing. Cuts to lone parent families benefits impacts mainly working class. Increased conflict in childhood due to family break ups and divorce. Divorce reform act.
- Society has become more child centred - children no longer seen as mini adults but rather units of consumption. Policies such as equal pay act have meant more women are pursuing their careers and acknowledging the financial burden of having children. Marketisation has led to importance of parental involvement in children education to allow them to get ahead.
• Different experiences of childhood Based upon social class, gender and ethnicity. Migration policies means some children from ethnic minorities are more likely to be separated from parents. Austerity policies such as bedroom tax and benefits cap means working class children are disadvantaged. Privatisation policies has meant males suffer from a lack of future career prospects meanwhile females are benefitting from increased aspirations.
