Topic 2: Families & Social Policy Flashcards
Functionalist view of social policy
See the state as acting in the interests of society as a whole and its SP as being for the good of all
See policies as helping families to perform their functions more effectively and making life better for their members
Examples of SP and why functionalists like it
Fletcher - health, education and housing policies has led to the development of a welfare state that supports the family in performing its functions more effectively. E.G. the NHS means that with the help of hospitals and medicines, the family is better able to take care of its members
Maternity leave is a good thing = biology differences means women are best suited to expressive role and primary socialising children
Evaluation of functionalist view on SP (AO3)
Weaknesses:
Feminists say it assumes all members of the family benefit equally from SP, whereas they argue that policies often benefit men more than women
Marxists say they assume that there is a ‘March of progress’ with social policies, gradually making life better, but policies such as welfare cuts prove otherwise
Donzelot’s view on SP: Policing the family
Sees policy as a form of state power and control over families
Argues that social workers, health visitors and doctors use their knowledge to control and change families. (Donzelot calls this ‘the policing of families’)
He sees SP as oppressing and controlling certain types of families
Examples of SP and why donzelot doesn’t like it
Parenting orders - parents of young offenders or badly behaved children may be forced to attend parenting classes to learn the ‘correct’ way to raise children
Evaluation of Donzelot’s view on SP
Weakness:
Mx and Feminists criticise Donzelot for failing to identify clearly who benefits from such policies and surveillance - Mx argues that SP operate in the interests of the RC and Fems argue that SP operates in the interests of patriarchy
Marxist view on SP
SP is an instrument of the RC so benefits the RC whilst exploiting the WC
Policies are heavily biased in the RC favour
Policies that benefit WC families are merely gestures by the RC to keep the WC from rebelling (EG free healthcare and compulsory education)
Many of these changes can easily be taken away by the RC (EG Thatcher made huge cuts to public services in the 1980s)
Examples of SP and why Mx don’t like it
Increase in free full time nursery care during WWII. This ensured that women were free to act as a ‘reserve army of labour’. After the war, these nurseries were closed down
Child Support Agency - whilst it appeared to encourage parental responsibility, it was all about cutting state spending and therefore cutting taxes for the rich
Evaluation of the Marxist view on SP (AO3)
Weaknesses:
Functionalists criticise Marxists and state that social policies ARE beneficial and do benefit everyone
The New Right view on SP
SP should avoid doing anything that might undermine the self reliant family
They see SP as encouraging anti social behaviour: EG fathers abandon their families knowing the state will provide for them, council housing promotes teenage pregnancy + undermines marriage, benefits encourages lone parents who promote the underclass
The new right answer is to reduce welfare support and encourage the NF
Examples of SP and why the NR doesn’t like it
Divorce Reform Act 1969 - undermines the idea of a lifelong commitment
Civil partnership act 2005 and same sex marriage 2014 - undermines heterosexual marriage and allowed same sex relationships to be legally recognised on the same terms as marriage
2006 Childcare Act - required councils to make sure there were enough childcare places available for mothers
2001 New Deal - aims to help lone parents get jobs / increase their hours of work
Impact SP has had (NR)
SP encourages a dependency culture
Evaluation of the NR view on SP (AO3)
Weaknesses:
Feminists argue that their policies are an attempt to justify a return to the traditional NF, which works to subordinate women
Cutting benefits may drive many into poverty, leading to further social problems
Feminist view on SP
Policies are based on the assumption that the ‘normal type’ of family is nuclear, with traditional instrumental and expressive roles
Hillary Land - patriarchal policies will encourage marriage and the gendered division of labour - these policies create a SFP as women will see it as the normal way to live if everyone else is in a NF
Examples of SP and why feminists don’t like it
Tax and benefits policies may assume that husbands are the main earners
Childcare - government does not pay for childcare enough for parents to work full time, so one parent will have to stay home
2015 = tax break for married couples which favoured the NF
Austerity policies from the 2010 coalition government - reduced spending on public services and cut sure start centres - women expected to stop working to care for elderly
Evaluation of the feminist view on SP (AO3)
Liberal feminists argue that changes such as Divorce Reform Act, Equal Pay Act and increased maternity leave/pay are sufficient to bring about gender equality
2015 parental leave = shared between both partners rather than just the woman
Prime ministers from 1979-2023 + their party
Margaret Thatcher (conservative) 1979-1990
John Major (conservative) - 1990-1997
Tony Blair (new labour) - 1997-2007
Gordon Brown (new labour) - 2007-2010
David Cameron (conservative) - 2010-2016
Theresa May (conservative) - 2016-2019
Boris Johnson (conservative) - 2019-2022
Liz Truss (conservative) - 2022-2022
Rishi Sunak (conservative) - 2022-present
What is social liberalism?
Henricson - a belief in gender equality and acceptance of a wide variety of different types of family
New right influence on social policy
Most influential under thatcher
Influence of the NR has declined because there has been a shift amongst right wing politicians towards neo-liberalism
= supports economic views of the NR (low tax, low benefits + minimal state intervention)
= but less emphasis on the desirability of NF
Conservative policies promoting NF 1979-97
Section 28 1988- Banned the promotion of homosexuality, including the teaching of it in schools
1988 - cohabiting couples could no longer claim more in tax allowances than a married couple
Child Support Agency 1993 - make absent fathers pay for child support (burden on the state reduced)
Conservative policies promoting social liberalism 1979-97
Divorce made easier in 1984
Further legislation gave ‘illegitimate’ children the same rights (eg inheritance rights) as those born within marriage
Evaluation of conservative governments 1979-1997 (AO3)
Marxists - new right is an ideology to justify policies that benefit the RC and capitalism. EG the Child Support Agency - while the goal appeared to be encouraging parental responsibility, it was all about cutting public spending and therefore cutting taxes for the rich
Governments of this era were swimming against the tide: their ideology was to protect the traditional family, but this was the period when there was the largest growth in family diversity and changing attitudes (sexuality, divorce etc)
New labour governments 1997-2010
Agreed with NR that family was the bedrock of society but disagreed that the man is the breadwinner. Advocated social liberalism
Favoured dual earner and neo-conventional families
New Labour policies promoting social liberalism 1997-2010
Working Families Tax Credit - Enabling parents to claim some tax relief on childcare costs
Extension of Maternity Leave
Sure Start Centres - provided child services, parenting course + play for children
2006 Childcare Act - required councils to make sure there were enough childcare places available for mothers in the area
2001 New Deal - aims to help lone parents get jobs or increase their hours of work
The Equality Act 2007 (Sexual Orientation)
Civil Partnership Act 2005
Evaluating the Labour governments 1997-2010
Strengths:
Advocated social liberalism and an interventionist approach (unlike the NR)
Major shift away from family policies favouring the traditional nuclear family and promoted gender equality
Aimed to cut child poverty and redistribute income to the poor
Weaknesses:
They did attempt to support AND control family life (eg Sure Start + 1998 Supporting Families Green Paper)
= so in a way, they did prefer children to live with their parents and therefore reduce their reliance upon benefits and the state
Some would criticise the New Labour governments for not going further. The Civil Partnership Act missed the opportunity to bring about true equality and introduce gay marriage (introduced by the coalition government 9 years later)
Coalition government 2010-2015
Conservatives (David Cameron) had to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in order to get their legislation through
Conservatives (traditionalists) had a mixture of maintaining the New Right approach with more modern attitudes, whereas the Liberal Democrats (modernisers) tended to have a more liberal approach, accepting alternative family types
This meant it was hard to maintain a consistent policy line on the family
Coalition policies promoting the NF 2010-2015
Removing the couples’ penalty was an approach to ensuring that the benefits system did not include a perverse incentive for couples to break up in order to receive more benefits
2011 - £450 billion programme targeting 120,000 problem families - CONTROL rather than SUPPORT
Significant cuts to Sure Start Centres
2015 = tax break for married couples and civil partners = favoured the NF
2017 = government withdrew child benefit from new claimants for third/additional children = designed to discourage benefit-reliant families from having children they couldn’t afford to support
Coalition policies promoting social liberalism 2010-2015
Childcare policies from 2010-2017 gave addition support to families where BOTH partners worked
Equality Act 2010 = legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society
Same sex marriage legalised 2014
2015 - parental leave = shared between both partners rather than just the woman
Evaluating the Coalition government 2010-2015
Strengths:
Coalition policies only matched the conservative rhetoric to an extent, and did move towards greater social liberalism compared to past conservative governments
Weaknesses:
They were more interested in saving money than a desire to promote/discourage traditional family norms (austerity policies)
= these policies hit the finances of most families and households
The New Right: Social Policy is biased AGAINST the nuclear family
Morgan argues that social policies have encouraged lone parenthood for those of low income.
She states that there has been a war between the state and the family which has been very damaging to family life:
- Abolishing marriage - tax and benefits have been changed to remove any advantages for married couples
- Divorce and lone parents - divorce easier since 1960s. Benefits system also geared towards supporting lone parents better than two parent families on low income
- The state as breadwinner - as a result, the state has become the breadwinner rather than the men of the house. Benefits system has made it increasingly likely that lone parents rely upon benefits. People ‘faking it’ - living together but pretending to live apart to obtain benefits
- The state as child carer - New Labour government established the lone mother family type as the BASIC family type - the state funded childcare to mothers didn’t need the support of a breadwinner
Social policy as biased towards conventional families
Feminists argue that policies tend to favour the traditional NF in which there are 2 parents: a male breadwinner and a woman staying at home
HOW?
1. School hours and long school holidays = hard for parents to both work full time - mother will stay home
- Care of relatives = seen as female responsibility. Cut in spending + social care by 11% per adult under the Coalition and Conservative governments
- Benefits cuts = more people living at home = more pressure on mother
- 2015 tax break only for married couples = favoured the NF
Evaluation - have SP supported the NF or not
There was a big move away from New Right approaches towards a more liberalist approach
But many policies still favour the NF
Impact of SP on family structures
- Increased cohabitation and delayed marriage:
- career aspirations of women mean that marriage is delayed
- contraception and legislation of abortion - delay having children
(Equal pay act / sex discrimination act) - Increased divorce:
- divorce reform has led to increase in breakdown of traditional family unit
- more lone parent families, lone-person households and more reconstituted families
(Divorce reform act / child tax credits) - Same sex families:
- decriminalisation of homosexuality. Introduction of civil partnerships and same sex marriage
- changes to legislation to adoption
(Adoption and children’s act 2002 / same sex marriage legalised in 2014) - More lone-parent families:
- welfare state provides protections for lone parent families
(2001 new deal / child support agency)
Impact of SP on gender roles
Maternity and paternity leave:
- radical fem - 9 months paid maternity leave reinforces the expressive role for women
- lib fem - shared parental leave 2015 allows women to return to work = emphasises shared responsibility
Increased divorce and negotiated family:
- gender roles more equal in a negotiated family - men are more involved in domestic labour and childcare
- women contribute to family income
Availability of childcare:
- opportunities such as 30 hour free childcare remove social expectation of women to stop working
- sure start centres provide dad and baby clubs to help men bond more with their children
Increased career opportunities:
- gender roles have become more equal as a result of women’s employment (equal pay act and sex discrimination act)
