7. Social Policy

What is China's cross-cultural example of social policy?

• due to the population being too big a one child policy was made to discourage childen from having more than 1 child

• women had to seek permission to become pregnant and couples that only had 1 child get free healthcare, tax benefits and the child gets priority in housing in the future but couples who break the agreement have to pay a fine

• causes women to be pressurised into sterilisation after thei first child

• 3 child policy came in 2021

What is some positive and negative evaluation for the one child policy in China?

Positive

• only children get more resources

• functionalists may say it reduces inequality between families

Negative

• boys were preferred in over income families as they could help out more on the farm so 120 boys were born for every 100 girls causing 'empty branch boys' who couldn't find a wife so caused crime due to anger

• only children may feel lonely or not learn how to share

• puts pressure on women to be sterilised after the first child (feminism)

What policies did Communist Romania do in the 1980's?

• to drive up the birth rate they restricted contraception and abortion and set up more infertility centres as well as lowering the legal age of marriage and making unmarried adults/childless couples pay a 5% income tax

Evaluate the communist Romania cross-cultural family policy?

Positives

• birth rates initially rose then fell again

Negatives

• led to a rise in illegal abortions

• controlling women's reproductive rights

What happened in the Nazi family policy?

• sought to restrict women's access to abortion and keep them out of the workforce and restricted to 'children, kitchen, church' to better perform their biological role

• the state compulsorily sterilised 375,000 disabled people

Evaluate Nazi family policy?

Positives

• attempted to reinforce the nuclear family

Negatives

• feminists argue they reinforce patriarchy due to gender roles

• against human rights

How do democratic societies influence social policy?

Some people argue that in democratic societies such as Britain the family is a private sphere so they don't interfere apart from when things go wrong such as child abuse. However, some say social policies influence families just in a more discrete way

What is the functionalist view of social policy? Name one

Functionalists see policies as helping families perform their functions more effectively so society is more harmonious.

Eg: Ronald Fletcher said the introduction of health, education and housing policies gradually let to the development of the welfare state which supports the family eg: NHS

What is evaluation against the functionalist perspective on social policies in the family?

• assumes all members of the family benefit equally whereas feminists may say men benefit at the expense of women

• assumes that ALL policies make the family gradually better however marxists argue some policies can turn the clock back eg: cutting welfare benefits to poor families

Which sociologist said about the policing of the family?

Donzelot said about this and said that social policy is a form of state control and power over families where professionals use their expertise to control and change families, generally more poorer families because they have higher levels of crime.

What is the New right view on social policy? What is a sociologist with this view and explain it?

The New Right agrees with any policies which support the conventional family and reject any policies which threaten it eg: making divorce easier but generally they see the family as a private sphere as not to interfere with. Murray says that welfare benefits such as counsil housing for unmarried teenage mothers are perverse incentives and reward anti-social or irresponsible behaviour. He argues by allowing a dependancy culture 2 functions of the family aren't fulfilled: socialisation of the young, work ethic among men

What is a different between the functionalist and new right view on social policy?

Functionalists believe policies can benefit the family whereas the new right believes interfering creates reliance on the state

What is some evaluation of the New Right view on social policies?

• feminists argue it is an attempt to justify a return to the traditional patriarchal nuclear family where women were subordinate and confined to a domestic role

• it wrongly assumes that the nuclear patriarchal family is ALWAYS natural rather than socially constructed

• Abbott and Wallace argue cutting benefits would drive poor families into greater poverty