Topic 7: Social Policies Flashcards
How do social policies directly affect families? Give two examples: (CP +WB)
Childcare Policies: Providing affordable childcare allows parents, especially mothers, to work full-time, impacting family income and relationships.
Welfare Benefits: Financial support for low-income families helps with living costs, reducing economic stress and happy, healthy families
How does policies not directly affect families: Give two examples:
Taxation Policies: While tax rates affect family finances, however not done specifically targeted at families as they apply broadly.
National Health Policies: While healthcare access affects families, policies are more focused on public health and not specifically tailored to individual family needs.
Policies that affected families across the world:
How do policies affect families around the world? (use countries) 1. C 2. R
China’s one-child policy required couples to have only one child, with women needing government permission to become pregnant. Couples who followed the policy received benefits like free child healthcare, but women faced pressure to undergo sterilization.
Romania - Restricted contraception and made divorce harder. Unmarried adults and childless couples were required to pay an additional 5% income tax.
Functionalist perspectives on family and social policy:
What is the functionalist perspective of family policies? (use sociologist) 1. F
Functionalists believe social policies help families perform their functions better.
Fletcher (1966) argues that health, education, and housing policies have created a welfare state that supports families in tasks like primary socialisation.
Education teaches shared norms and values.
Evaluation for the functionalist perspective on families and social policy:
What is a criticism of the functionalist view of families and social policies (2) 1. F 2. M
Functionalists believe social policies benefit all family members equally,
Feminists argue they often favour men e.g. short paternity leave - reinforces idea that women are home-makers - patriarchal ideology.
Marxists policies e.g. welfare cuts can harm poorer families in order to fuel the greed of the bourgeoisie.
Marxist view of family and social policies:
How can family and social policy be seen as a form of state power and control over families (use sociologists) 1. D 2. C
Donzelot (1977) argues that social policies are a form of state control over families, with people using their authority to monitor and influence families e.g. W/C. These families are seen as “problem” families that require intervention.
Condry (2007) the state controls family life through measures e.g. compulsory parenting classes for parents of young offenders, aiming to teach them the “correct” way to raise their children.
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 as it’s self-reliant and provides successful socialisation of children.
They oppose family diversity as it has has lead to social problems e.g. crime and welfare dependency as there is less stability.
The New Right perspective on families and social policy:
Policies that have undermined the nuclear family (use sociologist) 1. A 2. A
Almond (2006) - Laws making divorce easier undermine the idea of marriage as a lifelong commitment - opening for different family types
Almond (2006) - civil partnerships (2004 and same sex marriage 2014 shows how the state no longer sees heterosexual marriage as superior which NR believe it is due to better primary socialisation.
The New Right perspective on lone parents, welfare policy and dependency culture
How do the New Right view lone parent families in terms of policy? (use sociologist) 1. M
Murray (1984;1990) - believes benefits allow young girls to have children with no marriage and that the rise in lone-parent families contributes to higher crime rates among young males - no male role model.
The New Rights solution to the welfare dependency:
What is the New Rights solution to the welfare dependency?
They argue that cuts in welfare spending and tighter restrictions on who is eligible for benefits and this would lead to less teenage mothers as there wouldn’t be an incentive to become pregnant as they get no benefits to support them.
Evaluation of the New Rights view on family and social policy:
How do feminists view the New Right view of family and social policy? (use sociologist) 1. F 2. A+W
Feminists believe the New Right’s view on family policy promotes traditional gender roles, where women are confined to domestic duties and the nuclear family is seen as “natural” rather than socially constructed.
Abbott and Wallace (1992) - cutting benefits would simply drive many poor families into even greater poverty and make them more reliant on the government for support.
The New Rights influence on policies
How have the New Right had influence on families?
The Welfare Reform Act 2012 introduced cuts in welfare benefits to reduce welfare spending and encourage employment e.g. makes families self-reliant.
Conservative 1979-97 policies:
How did Conservative 1979-97 policies influence families? (use policies)
Section 28 1988 - banned teaching that homosexuality was an acceptable family relationship. If its ignored people wont think its acceptable meaning that there will be less of homosexual family types.
Child Support Agency (1993) - emphasised responsibility of parents for their children after divorce. The aim was to enforce maintenance payments by absent parents (usually fathers).
New Labour polices 1997-2010
How did New Labour polices 1997-2010 influence families (2)
New Labour policies helped dual-earner families by offering longer maternity leave, unpaid leave for both parents - shows how attitudes are changing mother is no longer assumed to be sole carer.
New Labour’s support for alternatives to the conventional heterosexual nuclear family e.g Civil Partnership Act 2004 - civil partnerships for same-sex couples - alternative family types
Conservative coalition with Lib Dem 2010-2015 policies
How did Conservative coalition with Lib Dem 2010-2015 policies influence families
Shared parental leave - Parental leave was to be shared equally between men and women, rather than it being assumed that women would take an extended period off work while men would only be entitled to two weeks.
Same-sex marriage (2014) - Legalised the marriage - showing how they view other family types as acceptable.
Feminists view on Social policy
What is the feminists view on social policy
Feminists argue the state and its policies, help to maintain women’s subordinate position to men and encourage the unequal gender division of labour in the family.
Feminists: policies supporting the patriarchal family
How do policies support a patriarchal family?
Tax and benefits - Assumes that husbands earn more. Makes it hard for wives to claim social security benefits in their own right (expected for husbands to provide). Reinforces women’s dependence on their husbands.
Childcare and elderly policies places place economic dependence on women as it socially expected for them to care for elderly and sick. This restricts women e.g. middle-aged mothers, from working full-time and increases their reliance on their partners financially.
Evaluation of the feminist perspective on family and social policies
How are policies not patriarchal? (use laws) (3)
Equal Pay Act (1970) and Sex Discrimination (1975) help to show that women are equal to men (no discrimination).
Divorce Reform Act (1969) - makes it easier for divorces to happen. Helps women to have more power and leave husbands.
Gender regimes on social policies:
What are familistic and individualistic gender regimes (use sociologist) 1. D
Drew (1995) uses ‘gender regimes’ to describe how social policies in different countries can either encourage or discourage gender equality in the family and at work.
e.g familistic gender regimes - policies are based on a traditional gender division with men being the breadwinner and women being the housewife
e.g individualistic gender regimes - policies are based on the belief that husbands and wives should be treated the same
Gender regimes on social policies
How do gender regimes affect social policies in different countries (use sociologist) 1. D
A country’s policies on taxation, childcare, welfare, and equal opportunities influence whether women can work full-time or must stay home to care for family members.
Drew (1995) uses “gender regimes” policies either promote or limit gender equality. Familistic regime reinforce traditional gender roles by lacking state support, while individualistic regimes, promote gender equality by sharing responsibilities between partners.
The state vs the market social policy
How does the economy affect social policies that affect families
Feminists argue that since the global recession began in 2008, cutbacks in government spending throughout Europe have led to pressure on women to take more responsibility for caring for family members as the state retreats from providing welfare.
There has also been neo liberal welfare policies which encourages families to use the market rather than the state to meet their needs e.g. private care for the old.
