Topic 7 Families and Social Policy

Define Social Policy

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 the 4 comparative views of family policy?

• Chinas one child policy

• Communist romania

• Nazi family policy

• Democratic societies

What was chinas one child policy?

• The one child policy was introduced to control the population and discourage couples from having more than one child. It was supervised by workplace family planning committees where women had to seek permission to try and become pregnant, there was usually a waiting list

• People who complied got extra benefits and their child had priority in education and housing

• People who broke the allowance had to pat a fine

What were families like in communist romania?

• In the 1980s many policies were introduced to try and increase the birth rate. It restricted contraception and make divorce more difficuly and made unmarried adults and childless couples pay an extra 5% in income tax

What were families like in Nazi germany?

• Nazi germany encouraged a two fold policy? It encouraged the healthy and racially pure to breed a master race by restricting access to contracption. It confined women to “children kitchen and church”

• On the other hand, it compulsorily sterlisied 375,000 disabled people that it deemed unfit to breed and later murdered them in nazi concentration camps

What are families like in democratic societies?

• In Britain, the family is a private sphere of life where the government does not intervene unless things go wrong like child abuse. The state still plays an important role in shaping family life even in democratic socieities

How do Functionalists see society ad how do they see the role of policies in relation to the family?

They see society as built on harmony and value consensus (shared values) and free from any major conflicts. They see policies as helping families to perform their functions more effectively.

What does Fletcher argue?

• Introduction of health, education and housing policies since industrial revolution has led to a development of a welfare state that supports the family in performing its functions more effectively

• NHS, doctors, nurses and advanced medical knowledge helps to support the function of the family to care for the sick

What are the 2 main criticisms of the Functionalist view of Social Policy in relation to the family?

1. The view can be criticised by the fact that it wrongly assumes that all members of the family benefit equally from social policies, where as feminists would argue that social policies benefit men at the expense of women.

2. The view can again be criticised by the fact that it wrongly assumes that there is a ‘march of progress’, with social policies which steadily makes them better. Marxists argue that policies can reverse progress that was previously made, for example, cutting welfare benefits to poor families.

What did Donzelot mean by the term ‘The Policing of Families’?

He stated that social workers, health visitors and doctors use their knowledge to control and change families. Poor families are more likely to be seen as ‘problem’ families and as the cause of crime and anti social behaviour. These are families professionals target for ‘improvement’

What is Donzelot’s view on the effect of social control on the family?

He states that social policy is not a positive thing, and that it is a form of state control over the family, in which the state should not have that control over the family.

Who argues 3 policies cause social problems?

• Almond

Give 3 examples of policies that the New Right (ALMOND) view as threatening to the conventional nuclear family and producing social problems.

1. Laws making divorce easier

2. Introduction of civil partnerships

3. Tax laws that discriminate against conventional families with a sole breadwinner

What New Right sociologist is highly critical of welfare benefits?

• Charles Murray

Explain how the New Right sees welfare benefits as ‘perverse incentives’.

They state that welfare benefits provides ‘rewards’ for irresponsible or anti-social behaviour. For example, cash payments to support lone parent families that would not exist if they had aimed for the conventional family.

Give 2 examples for ways in which welfare benefits may act as ‘perverse incentives’.

1. One way is that if fathers see that they don’t need to be present in their families lives because the state will maintain their children, then some may choose to abandon their responsibilities towards their families.

2. Another way is that providing council housing for unmarried teenage mothers encourages young girls to become pregnant.

What are the New Rights 2 solutions to encourage the nuclear family?

• Cuts in welfare spending, as this would reduce taxes too

• Tighter restrictions on who is eligible

Explain how the New Right believes that taxes may be used to encourage the traditional nuclear family.

Tax cuts will incentivise fathers more to work and provide for their families. Taxe cuts that favour married couples instead of cohabiting couples would incentivise people to marry.

( WAGE REPLACEMENT RATIO)

How do Feminists criticise the New Rights view on how social policy effects the family

They criticise the New Rights view on Social Policy’s effect on the family by arguing that the New Right wrongly attempts to justify a return to the traditional and patriarchal nuclear family that subordinated women to men

Give 3 general criticism to the New Rights view on how social policy affects the family.

1. Wallace (1992) argues that cutting benefits would simply drive many poor people into even greater poverty and make them even less self reliant, and would possibly drive up crime rates, and so more social problems and delinquency occurs

   • The New Rights view on how social policy affects the family wrongly assumes that the patriarchal nuclear family is natural, rather than socially constructed

   • The New Rights view on how social policy affects the family ignores the policies that support and maintain the conventional nuclear family.

What are policies introduced by the Conservative Government 1979-1997 which reflected the New Right View?

• Section 28. Margaret Thatcher banned teaching homosexuality as acceptable in schools

• 1993 set up Child Support Agency to enforce maintenance payments by absent parents (usually fathers)

What were 2 policies introduced by the Conservative Government 1979-1997 which rejected the New Right’s View?

• Making divorce easier

• Giving illegitimate children the same rights and children born to married parents

What were 2 similarities between New Labour 1997-2010 and the New Right view?

• Believed a family headed by a married, hetersecual couple is the best environment to raise children

• Emphasise the importance of parents being responsible for their children

What were 3 policies introduced by the New Labour government which rejected the New Right perspective?

• Longer maternity leave, 3 months’ worth, for both parents, dual earner family

• Civil partnerships for same sex couples

• Giving unmarried couples the same rights to adopt as married couples

What is an example of conservative led governments from 2010 accepting and rejecting new right views?

• Introduced gay marriage

• Financial austerity measures reflected NR desires to cut back public spending

Explain how feminists believe that social policy creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Most social policies assume that the ideal family is the nuclear family. this norm of what the family should look like affects the kind of policies governing family life. This then reinforces that type of family and thus creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.

What are the 3 ways feminists believe policy supports the patriarchal family?

• Tax and benefits policies

• CHildcare

• Care for the sick and elderly

Explain how Feminist see social policies such as tax and benefits as maintaining the patriarchal family.

Tax and benefits assume that husbands are the main wage earners and that wives are dependent. This can make it impossible for wives to claim social security benefits in their own right, since it is expected that the husband provides

Explain how feminists see social policies such as childcare as maintaining the patriarchal family.

Policies governing school timetables and holidays make it hard for parents, usually mothers, to work full time unless they can afford extra childcare. This means women are restricted from working and are placed in a position of economic dependence on their partners

Explain how Feminist see social policies such as ‘care for the sick and elderly’ as maintaining the patriarchal family.

Government policy assumes that the family will provide care for the sick and for the elderly. This means that women are expected to do this instead of working, and so being more dependent on their husbands.

What does Leonard argue?

Leonard argues that even policies that support women still reinforce the patriarchal family. For example maternity leave entitlmements are much more generous than paternity leave showing care of infants is said to be responsibility of mothers rather than fathers

Explain the Feminist view on social policy.

Feminists see the main function of laws and policies on families is to support the conventional heterosexual nuclear family. Fmily policies are often based on assumptions of what the ideal version of the family is, in which the assumption is that the ideal family is the nuclear family. Femnists believe that social policy creates a self fulfilling prophecy by assuming that the ideal family is the patriarchal nuclear family with traditional domestic division of labour. For example, policies about tax incentives usually favour marriage while disfavouring cohabitation. This suggests that societal norms about the ‘ideal family’ can shape policy. As a result, many policies often reinforce the patriarchal nuclear family.

Give a criticism of the Feminist view of social policy

The view can be criticised by the fact that it ignores the point that not all social policies are aimed at maintaining the patriarchy, For example, the EPA, sex discrimination laws, benefits for lone parent families all challenge the patriarchal family.

Who came up with the concept of gender regimes and what does it mean?

• Drew

• Gender regimes describe how social policies in different countries encourage or discourage gender equality in the family or in work

Define ‘Individualistic’ as a gender regime that was identified by Drew.

This is where policies are based on the belief that husbands and wives should be treated the same. Wives are not assumed to be financially dependent on their husbands and so both have separate entitlement to state benefits.

Define ‘Familistic’ as a gender regime that was identified by Drew.

This is where policies are based on a traditional gender division between the male breadwinner and the female homemaker.

Explain what is meant by direct policy.

This is when policies are aimed at changing or reinforcing gender roles. For example, shared parent leave.

Explain what is meant by ‘Indirect Policy’.

This is when policies may not have intended to impact gender roles, but there has been an impact on gender roles.

What are examples of government policies influencing family types?

• Divorce reform act 1969

• Marriage same sex couples act 2013

• Universal credit

• Shared parental leave 2015

• Free childcare provision for 3-4 year olds

• Compulsory education laws

• Domestic violence, crime and victims act 2004.