T7; FAMILY + SOCIAL POLICIES - PERSPECTIVES ON FAMILY + SOCIAL POLICY // THE NR

What family type to the NR strongly prefer as its self-reliant + capable of caring + providing for its members esp successful socialisation of the children?

• trad nuclear based on hetro married couple w/ trad DOL

what do the NR believe is threatening the conventional family and producing social problems like crime and welfare dependency?

• the changes that lead to family diversity e.g higher divorce, cohab, same-sex

ALMOND; state policies have encouraged these changes and undermined the nuclear family - 4 EXAMPLES?

• LAWS …

• INTRODUCTION OF…

• TAX LAWS…

• INCREASED RIGHTS OF…

• LAWS → divorce easier, undermines marriage

• INTRODUCTION OF CIVIL PARTNERSHIP in 2004 act→ 2014 = marriage for lesbian + gays = message that state no longer see hetro marriage = superior

• TAX LAWS → discriminate against conventional families w/ sole male breadwinner, cannot transfer the non-working partner’s tax allowances to the working partner so tend to pay higher tax than dual-earning couples (who have each a tax allowance)

• INCREASED RIGHTS FOR UNMARRIED COHABS → e.g adoption rights, succession to council house tenancies + pension rights when a partner dies, begin to make marriage = cohab similar therefore state =/= see marriage = better/special

Lone parents, welfare policy and the dependency culture; Who is the leading NR thinker, critical of an ‘overgenerous’ welfare policy (give examples) encouraging deviance + dysfunctional family types that harm society?

• MURRAY e.g council estate housing for teen unmarried mothers + cash payments to supp lone families undermine conventional families

in MUURAY’S view what do welfare benefits offer giving 3 examples?

• father…

• young girl…

• lone families + boys…

• perverse incentive, rewards anti-social and irresponsible behaviour e.g

  • father abandon family because state maintain their children

  • young girls encouraged to be preggos as given council housing

  • growth of lone encouraged by benefits as boys grow up w/o role model + authority fig, this lead to higher crime rates among youth

What does MURRAY believe current social policies, which have a major impact on family roles + relationships, promote threatening which 2 main functions the family performs for society?

• dependency culture

• functions:

  • successful socialisation of the young

  • maintenance of work ethic among men

what are the NR solutions to the problems they’ve identified? what are the benefits to their solutions?

• male-focus

• female-focus

• policy must be changed, with cuts in welfare spending and tighter restrictions on who is eligible for benefits

  • benefits - reduced taxes, changes bring incentive for fathers to work and provide for their families

• similarly, denying council housing to married teenage mothers (solution) = remove incentive to become preggos young (benefit)

what policies do the NR advocate for?

• support the traditional nuclear family e.g taxes favour married > cohab, and making absent fathers financially responsible for their children

What view of functionalists do the NR disagree on? In their view, what do they believe instead?

• state welfare policies benefit family and make it better able to meet member’s needs

• The less state interferes the better, increases self-reliance and lowers dependency is what will enable family to meet member’s needs

What is the feminist criticism for the NR?

• it’s an attempt to justify return to trad patriarchal nuclear fam → subordination + confinement to domestic role

• wrongly assumes ‘natural’ rather than socially constructed

• the NR ignores the many policies that support + maintain conventional trad nuclear family rather than undermine it e.g childcare, tax and benefits policies

how do ABBOT and WALLACE argue that cutting benefits actually does?

• drive many poor families into further poverty + make them less self-reliant