Topic 7: Social Policies Flashcards
What are social policies
social policy refers to the plans and actions of state agencies, such as health and social services, the welfare benefits system, schools and other public bodies.
What are policies based on?
policies are usually based on laws introduced by government that provide the framework within which these agencies operate. For example, laws lay down who is entitled to each specific welfare benefit.
How do social policies directly affect families
Most social policies affect families in some way or other.
Some are aimed directly at families, such as laws governing marriage and divorce, abortion and contraception, child protection, adoption and so on.
How does policies not directly affect families
The policy of compulsory education enables parents to go out to work while schools provide a free ‘childminding’ service. This helps to keep the birth rate increase as it means that parents can make more money and spend it on their children.
The policy of ‘care in the community often means that it is family members rather than hospitals or nursing homes who have to care for the sick or elderly. This can lead to the ‘sandwich generation’ of women who look after their own children as well as parents.
Taxation policies affect how much money is taken from families and how much is made available to pay for the services provided for families. This leads to the birth rate either rising or declining as parents have more/less money to spend.
Policies that affected families across the world:
E.g China
China’s one-child policy.
In China, the government’s population control policy has aimed to discourage couples from having more than one child.
Women must seek their permission to try to become pregnant.
Couples who comply with the policy get extra benefits, such as free child healthcare and higher tax allowances.
Women often faced pressure to undergo sterilisation after their first child.
Policies that affected families across the world
E.g Romania
In the 1980s policies to try to drive up the birth rate, which had been falling as living standards declined.
It restricted contraception and abortion, set up infertility treatment centres, made divorce more difficult, lowered the legal age of marriage to 15
Made unmarried adults and childless couples pay an extra 5% income tax.
What are policies that affected family across the world
E.g Nazi Germany
In the 1930s, the state pursued a two policies.
They encouraged the birth of children by restricting access to abortion and contraception
Another policy sought to keep women out of the workforce and confine them to ‘children, kitchen and church’ so that they can perform their biological role.
The state compulsorily sterilised 375,000 disabled people that it deemed unfit to breed on grounds of physical and mental disabilities, epilepsy, deafness or blindness’.
Policies that affected families across the world:
E.g democratic societies
In Britain, the family is a private sphere of life in which the government does not intervene, except when it is absolutely necessary e.g child abuse.
However, even in democratic societies, the state’s social policies play a very important role in shaping family life e.g Section 28 (Britain 1988)
Functionalist perspectives on family and social policy (use sociologist)
Functionalists see society as built on consensus (shared values), and free from conflicts.
Functionalists see policies as helping families to perform their functions more effectively and make life better for their members.
Fletcher (1966) argues that the introduction of health, education and housing policies has led to the development of a welfare state that supports the family to perform its functions more effectively e.g primary socialisation
Evaluation for the functionalist perspective on families and social policy
The functionalist perspective on families and social policy assumes that all members of the family benefit equally from social policies, however feminists argue that policies often benefit men at the expense of women e.g men having two weeks of paternity leave.
The functionalist perspective on families and social policy assumes that there is a ‘march of progress’, with social policies steadily making family life better however Marxists argue that policies also reverse the progress that has been made e.g cutting welfare benefits to poor families.
How can family and social policy be seen as a form of state power and control over families (use sociologists)
Donzelot (1977) - has a conflict view of society and he sees policy as a form of state power and control over families.
Donzelot argues that professionals such as social workers, health visitors and doctors use their knowledge to control and change families. This is called ‘the policing of families’.
Often the policing of the family is more targeted to poorer families who are more likely to be seen as ‘problem’ families and as the cause of crime and anti-social behaviour.
These are the families that professionals target for improvement.
Condry (2007) - The state seeks to control and regulate family life by imposing compulsory parenting orders through courts. Parents of young offenders or badly behaved children may be forced to attend parenting classes to learn the ‘correct way to bring up their children’.
How is social policy not a march of progress (use socologist)
Donzelot (1977) - rejects the march of progress view that social policy has created a better society. He sees social policy as a form of state control of the family.
Marxists argue that social policies generally operate in the interests of the capitalist class.
Feminists argue that men are the main beneficiaries of social policies.
The New Right perspective on families and social policy:
What is the New Right perspective on family
The New Right are strongly in favour of the ‘traditional’ nuclear family e.g marriage and heterosexuality.
They see the nuclear family as self-reliant and capable of caring and providing for its members, especially the successful socialisation of children.
The changes that led to greater family diversity e.g increase in divorce, cohabitation, same-sex partnerships and lone parenthood are threatening the conventional family and producing social problems such as crime and welfare dependency.
The New Right perspective on families and social policy:
What is the New Right perspective on family (use sociologist)
State policies have encouraged these changes to undermine the nuclear family
Almond (2006) - Laws making divorce easier undermine the idea of marriage as a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman.
Almond (2006) - The introduction of civil partnerships (and since 2014 marriage) for homosexual couples sends out the message that the state no longer sees heterosexual marriage as superior to other domestic set-ups. (which it is due to better primary socialisation.
The New Right perspective on lone parents, welfare policy and dependency culture (use sociologist)
Murray (1984;1990) - providing ‘generous’ welfare benefits, such as council housing for unmarried teenage mothers and cash payments to support lone-parent families, undermines the conventional nuclear family and encourages deviant and dysfunctional family types that harm society.
Murray argues that these welfare benefits they reward irresponsible or anti-social behaviour e.g providing council housing for unmarried teenage mothers encourages young girls to become pregnant as they know that they will be looked after.
The growth of lone-parent families, encouraged by generous benefits, means more boys grow up without a male role model and authority figure. This lack of paternal authority is responsible for a rising crime rate among young males.
