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What is a social policy?
The plans and actions of state agencies, such as health services, the welfare system and schools.
What are the two ways in which a social policy may affect the family?
Directly and indrectly
Give an example of a social policy that affects the family directly?
Policies that govern marriage divorce and marriage - E.g. the Divorce Reform Act
Give an example of a social policy that indirectly affects the family.
Taxation policies and compulsory schooling.
What was China's one-child policy?
Where the government strongly discouraged couples from having multiple children from the 1970s until 2015 in order to control population size.
How did China enforce their one-child policy?
Workplace family planning committees controlled this as women had to seek permission before having a child.
Couples who went against the policy were heavily fined and those who followed it got extra benefits, such as priority in education.
Women were pressured to be sterilised after their first child.
This was changed into a two-child and then three-child policy after concerns about demographic imbalances.
What was the aim of the government in Communist Romania?
To increase the birth rate after a significant dip in births due to low standards of living.
How did the Romanian communist government enforce their social policies?
They restricted contraception and abortion and instead set up infertility treatment centres.
Made divorce more difficult and lowered the legal age of marriage to 15.
What was the aim of the Nazi government?
To create a racially pure society by increasing breeding amongst Aryans.
How did the Nazi government enforce their social policies?
Kept women out of the word and confined them to the children, kitchen and church.
The state sterilised 375,000 disabled people.
In general, what do functionalists believe about social policy?
As they believe that society is built on harmony and consensus, they also believe that the state imposes social policies in the best interest of everyone.
What did Fletcher (1966) say about the effects of social policy on the family?
They argued that the introduction of health, education and housing policies has led to the welfare state which helps the family perform their functions more effectively.
What are criticisms of the functionalist perspective of social policy?
It assumes that all the members of the family benefit from the social policies equally.
Feminists would argue that the policies only benefit men.
It assumes there is a march of progress.
Marxists would argue that some policies have made family life worse, e.g. cutting benefits.
What did Donzelot (1977) say about social policy and the family?
Professionals, such as doctors and social workers, observe the family and use their knowledge and expertise to control and change families.
Who said that professionals, such as doctors and social workers, observe the family and use their knowledge and expertise to control and change families?
Donzelot (1977)
Who said that the introduction of health, education and housing policies has led to the welfare state which helps families perform their functions more effectively?
Fletcher (1966)
What term did Donzelot (1977) use to describe how professionals observe and control the family?
The policing of families
Which type of families tend to receive more surveillance than others?
Working class families
What did Condry (2007) say about the family and social policy?
The state attempts to control the family by imposing Parenting Orders, or parenting classes for the parents of young offenders so that they learn the “correct” way to raise their children.
What is the main criticism of Donzelot (1977)?
Marxists and feminists say that he fails to identify who these policies benefit.
What did Almond (2006) say about social policy and the family?
Argues that many of the social policies affecting the family have had a negative effect.
Laws that make divorce easier undermine the idea of marriage being a life-long commitment.
The legalisation of civil partnerships and gay marriage displays that the state no longer see heterosexual relationships as the superior form of relationship.
The increase in rights for cohabiting couples suggests that the state don’t believe that marriage is special or any better.
What did Murray (1984; 1990) say about social policy and the family?
The welfare state provides overly generous benefits that undermine the conventional nuclear family.
These benefits offer perverse incentives and create a dependency culture that threatens the conventional family and, therefore, wider society.
According to Murray (1984; 1990) what two functions of the family does the dependency culture in society threaten?
The successful socialization of the young.
The maintenance of work ethic among men.
What are some examples of perverse incentives?
Feckless fathers who rely on the state to provide for their children.
Providing council housing to single mothers encourages young girls to get pregnant.
This leads to a growth in lone-parent families where young boys don’t have a male role model to socialise them properly → high crime rates amongst young males.
What is the new right's solution to the negative changes in the family?
Change the social policies in order to disincentivize family diversity and encourage the traditional nuclear family.
What are examples of the social policies the new right would be in favour of?
Cutting welfare benefits means that you can also reduce taxes.
This leads to men being more willing to work and provide for their families.
Denying unmarried teen mums council housing prevents young girls from becoming pregnant. The new right also want policies that encourage the conventional nuclear family, such as taxes that favour married couples.
What is the main difference between the functionalist and new right perspective on social policy?
The new right believes that the less the state interferes to help the family perform its functions, the better, whereas functionalists think the state's interference is a good thing.
What are criticisms of the new right perspective on social policy?
Feminists argue that it’s just a return to the patriarchal society of the past.
They wrongly assume that the nuclear family is natural.
Abbot and Wallace (1992): cutting benefits would just make the families even poorer.
They ignore the social policies that support the nuclear family.
Who said that many social policies assume that the patriarchal, conventional nuclear family is ideal and this norm affects the policies that govern the family, and reinforce the traditional nuclear family, leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Land (1978)
What did Land (1978) say about social policy and the family?
Many social policies assume that the patriarchal, conventional nuclear family is ideal.
This norm affects the policies that govern the family that the state enforces.
These policies reinforce the traditional nuclear family → a self-fulfilling prophecy.
What are examples of the social policies that feminists believe reinforce the nuclear family?
The assumption that men will be the breadwinners makes it impossible for wives to claim social security benefits in their own right, reinforcing women’s dependence on their husbands.
The childcare that the government pay for isn’t sufficient enough for women to work full-time.
The way in which school is timetabled also prevents women from working full-time.
Government policies assume that the family will provide care for the sick and elderly and this responsibility often falls on women.
Who said that although some policies support women, they still reinforce the patriarchal nuclear family and control women?
Leonard (1978)
What did Leonard (1978) say about the family and social policy?
Although there are some policies that support women, they still reinforce the patriarchal nuclear family and control women.
What is the main criticism of the feminist perspective of social policy?
Not all policies are imposed in order to maintain the patriarchy, such as the equal pay and sex discrimination laws.
Who coined the term gender regimes?
Drew (1995)
According to Drew (1995), what are the two types of gender regimes?
Familistic and individualistic
What are gender regimes?
How Drew (1995) described how different social policies across the world either encourage or discourage gender equality.
What are familistic gender regimes?
Where social policy is based on the traditional gender divisions between husbands and wives.
What is an example of familistic gender regimes?
In Greece, the state does not provide that much welfare or funded childcare, forcing women to be the primary caregiver.
What are individualistic gender regimes?
When social policy is based on the idea that husbands and wives should be equal.
What is an example of individualistic gender regimes?
In Sweden, policies treat husbands and wives as equally responsible for childcare and breadwinning, resulting in policies that enforce gender equality and provide childcare and state benefits for each partner.
What are neo-liberal welfare policies?
When the government encourages the use of the market rather than the state in order to meet their needs.
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