Topic 6 Families + Social Policy Flashcards
What is a social policy?
The plans + actions of control + local government, often involving things such as health, social services, benefits + education.
What is familial ideology?
The idea that the trad nuclear family is the best + most desirable.
Explain the functionalist view on social policy
-Functionalists believe the state acts in the interest of the whole society + therefore take a positive view on social policies.
-See policies as helping families to perform their functions more effectively.
-For example, Ronald Fletcher (1966) argues that the intro of health, education + housing policies has gradually led to the development of the welfare state that supports the family in performing it’s functions.
-The existence of the NHS = the family today is better able to take care of it’s members when they are sick.
What are the 2 criticism of the functionalist perspective on social policies?
1.) Assumes that all members of the family benefit equally from social policies, whereas feminists for example argue that policies often benefit men at the expense of women.
2.) Assumes there is a ‘march of progress’. However, Marxists for example argue that policies can also turn the clock back + reverse progress previously made, e.g by cutting welfare benefits.
Donzelot; Policing the family - How does his view differ from functionalists?
-Donzelot sees policy as a form of state control + power over families.
-He uses Foucalt’s (1976) concept of surveillance, which sees power not just as something held by the state, but diffused throughout society.
-Foucault sees professionals such as Doctors + social workers as exercising power over their clients by using their expert knowledge to turn them into ‘cases’ to deal with.
-Donzelot applies these ideas to the family. He is interested in how professionals carry out surveillance of families.
-Argues that social workers, health visitors + doctors use their knowledge to control + change families (the policing of families.)
-Surveillance is not targeted equally, with poor families more likely to be seen as ‘problem’ families + so are the ones professionals target for ‘improvement’.
-He rejects functionalists’ MOP view.
Outline an evaluation of Donzelot: policing the family
✅By focussing on the micro level of how the ‘caring professions’ act as agents of social control through their surveillance of families, Donzelot shows the importance of professional knowledge as a form of power + control.
❌Marxists + Feminists criticise Donzelot for failing to identify clearly who benefits from such policies of surveillance.
❌Marxists argue that social policies generally operate in the interests of the capitalist class, while feminists argue men are the main beneficiaries.
Outline the NR perspective on social policy
-The NR take a negative view of some government because it believes they undermine the traditional nuclear family.
-They see this family type as naturally self-reliant + capable of caring + providing for it’s members, especially the successful socialisation of children.
-In their view, the changes that have led to greater family diversity, such as ^ in divorce, cohabitation, same-sex partnerships + lone parenthood, are threatening the conventional family + producing social problems such as crime + welfare dependency.
NR; How does Brenda Almond (2006) show that state policies have undermined the nuclear family?
-Laws, making divorce easier undermine the idea of marriage as a lifelong commitment between a man + woman.
-Introduction of civil partnerships + marriage for gay couples sends out the message that the state no longer sees heterosexual marriage as superior to other domestic set-ups.
-Tax laws discriminate against conventional families with a sole breadwinner. They cannot transfer the non-working partners tax allowances to the working partner.
The NR; Lone parents, welfare policy and the dependency culture
-Charles Murray critical of welfare policy
-Providing ‘generous’ welfare benefits, such as council housing for unmarried teen mothers + cash payments to support lone-parent families, undermines the nuclear family + encourages deviant + dysfunctional family types that harm society.
According to Murray, what examples are their of welfare benefits encouraging irresponsible behaviour?
-If fathers see that the state will maintain their children, some of them will abandon their responsibilities towards their families.
-Providing council housing for unmarried teenage mothers encourages young girl’s to become pregnant.
-The ^ of lone-parent families, encouraged by generous benefits, means more boys grow up without a male role model +authority figure = ^ crime rate among young males.
-Thus for the NR, social policy has a major impact on family roles + relationships, with current policies encouraging a dependency culture rather than being self-reliant.
-This threatens two essential functions that the family fulfils for society: 1.) The successful socialisation of the young. 2.) The maintenance of the work ethic among men.
What is the NR’s solutions to the problems they identify?
-Argue that the policy must be changed, with cuts in welfare spending + tighter restrictions on who is eligible for the benefits.
-This would have several advantages, e.g. cutting welfare benefits would mean that taxes could also be reduced, + both these changes would give more incentive to work + provide for their family.
-Denying council housing to unmarried teen mothers would remove a major incentive to become pregnant when very young.
-Advocate policies to support the trad nuclear family, such as taxes that favour married rather than cohabiting couples, + making absent fathers financially responsible for their children.
-The less the state ‘interferes’ in families, the better family life will be. Greater self-reliance, is what will enable the family to meet it’s members’ needs most effectively.
Evaluation of the NR perspective
❌Feminists argue that it is an attempt to justify a return to the trad patriarchal nuclear family that subordinated women to men + confined them to a domestic role.
❌Abbot + Wallace (1992) argue cutting benefits would simply drive many poor families into even greater poverty + make them even less self-reliant.
❌Ignore the many policies that support + maintain the conventional nuclear family rather than undermine it.
The NR’s influence on policies
-A conservative view of the family that developed in the 70s.
-However, conservative policies since the 1970s show a more mixed picture.
-We can also see some similarities between NR ideas + NL policies.
Conservative governments (1979-97)
-Reflecting NR views, Thatchers gvt banned the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities. This included teaching a ban on teaching that homosexuality was an acceptable family relationship.
-Defined divorce as a social problem + emphasised the continued responsibility of parents for their children after divorce.
-Set up Child Support Agency - enforce maintenance payments by absent parents.
-However, Conservatives introduced measures opposed by NR (making divorce easier).
New Labour governments (1997-2010)
-Like the NR, NL took the view that the family is the bedrock of society + saw a family headed by a married, heterosexual couple as the best environment for children.
-Emphasised the need for parents to take responsibility for their children, e.g. Parenting orders.
-However, as Smart (1999) noted, NL reject the NR view that the family should have just one (male) earner + recognised that women too now go out to work. NL policies favoured (dual-earner / neo-conventional family). These policies included:
-Longer maternity leave, 3 months’ unpaid leave for both parents + the right to seek time off work for both parents to work.
-Working Families Tax Credit, enabling parents to claim some tax relief on childcare costs.
-The New Deal, helping lone parents to return to work.
-NL argued certain kinds of state intervention can improve life for families.
-For example, their welfare, taxation + minimum wage policies were partly aimed at lifting children out of poverty by re-distributing income to the poor through ^ benefits, whereas NR disapprove of this.
-Civil partnerships for same-sex couples
-Giving unmarried couples the same rights to adopt as married couples
-Outlawing discrimination on grounds of sexuality
