Perspectives On Families And Social Policy

Although sociologists agree that social policy can have important effects on family life, what do they hold different views about?

What kinds of effects it has and whether these are desirable.

What do Functionalists see society as built on?

Harmony and consensus, and free from major conflicts, they see the state as acting in the interests of society as a whole and its social policies as being for the good of all.

What do Functionalists see policies as doing for families?

Helping them perform their functions more effectively and make life better for their members.

What does Fletcher (Functionalist) argue?

That the introduction of health, education and housing policies in the years since the industrial revolution has gradually led to the development of a welfare state that supports the family in performing its functions more effectively.

What is an example of the NHS helping families?

With the help of doctors, nurses, hospitals and medicines, the family today is better able to take care of its members when they are sick.

What are the two main accounts the functionalist view has been critisiced on?

• It assumes that all members of the family benefit equally form social policies.

• It assumes that there is a ‘march of progress‘, with social policies steadily making life better and better.

What would feminists argue against the functionalist view that all members of the family benefit equally from social policies?

That policies often benefit men at the expense of women.

What would Marxists argue against the functionalist view that there is a ‘march of progress‘, with social policies steadily making life better and better?

That policies can also turn the clock back and reverse progress previously made, for example by cutting welfare benefits to poor families.

What perspective does Donzelot offer?

A very different perspective on the relationship between the family and state policies from that of the functionalists; rather than a consensus view of policy as benefitting the family, he has a conflict view of society and he sees policy as a form of state power and control over families.

What sociologists concept’s does Donzelot use?

He uses Focault’s concept of surveillance. Focault sees power as not just something held by the government or state, but as diffused throughout society and found within all relationships. In particular, Focault sees professionals such as doctors and social workers carry out surveillance of families. He argues that health visitors and social workers use their knowledge to control and change families.

What does Donzelot call the surveillance of families shown by Focault?

‘The policing of families‘.

Is surveillance targeted equally on all social classes?

No; poor families are more likely to be seen as ‘problem‘ families and as the cause of crime and anti-social behaviour. These are the families that professionals target for ‘improvement‘.

What does Condry note?

That the state may seek to control and regulate family life by imposing compulsory Parenting Orders through the courts. Parents of young offenders truants or badly behaved children may be forced to attend parenting classes to learn the ‘correct‘ way to bring up their children.

What functionalist view does Donzelot reject?

The ‘march of progress‘ view that social policy and the professionals who carry it out have created a better, freer or more humane society. Instead, he sees social policy as a form of state control of the family.

How does Donzelot show the importance of professional knowledge as a form of power and control?

By focusing on the micro level of how the ‘caring professions‘ act as agents of social control through their surveillance of families.

Why do Marxists and Feminists criticise Donzelot?

For failing to identify clearly who benefits from such policies of surveillance. Marxists argue that social policies generally operate in the interests of the capitalist class while feminists argue that men are the main beneficiaries.

What are the New Right strongly in favour of?

The conventional/’traditional’ nuclear family based on a married, heterosexual couple, with a division of labour between a male provider and a female home maker. They see this family type as naturally self-reliant and capable of caring and providing for its members, especially the successful socialisation of children.

In the New Right view, what changes are threatening the conventional family and producing social problems such as crime and welfare dependency?

The changes that have led to greater family diversity, such as increases in divorce, cohabitation, same-sex partnerships and lone parenthood.

In the New Right view, what have state policies encouraged?

Such changes leading to greater family diversity and helped to undermine the nuclear family.

What does Almond argue?

• Laws making divorce easier undermine the idea of marriage as a lifelong commitment between a man and woman.

• The introduction of civil partnerships for gay and lesbian couples sends out the message that the state no longer sees heterosexual marriage as superior to other domestic set-ups.

• Tax laws discriminate against conventional families with a sole (usually male) breadwinner. They cannot transfer the non-working (usually the wife) tax allowances to the working partner, so they tend to pay more tax than dual-earner couples, each of whom has a tax allowance.

What does the New Right point out?

That the increased rights for unmarried cohabitants, such as adoption rights and succession to council house tenancies and pension rights when a partner dies, begin to make cohabitation and marriage more similar. This sends out the signal that the state does not see marriage as special or better.

What are New Right commentators such as Murray particularly critical of?

Welfare policy. In their view, providing ‘generous‘ welfare benefits, such as council housing for unmarried teenage mothers and cash parents to support lone-parent families, undermines the conventional nuclear family and encourages deviant and dysfunctional family types that harm society.

What does Murray argue about welfare benefits?

That they offer ‘perverse incentives‘ - they reward irresponsible or anti-social behaviour, such as:

• If fathers see that the state will maintain their children, some of them will abandon their responsibilities towards their families.

• Providing council housing for unmarried teenage mothers encourages young girls to get pregnant.

• The growth of lone-parent families, encouraged by generous benefits, means more boys grow up without a male role model and authority figure. This lack of paternal authority is responsible for a rising crime rate among young males.

For the New Right, what does social policy have a major impact on?

Family roles and relationships. Current policies are encouraging a dependency culture, where individuals come to depend on the state to support them and their children rather than being self-reliant. This threatens two essential functions that the family fulfils for society.

For the New Right, what are the two essential functions of the family that are threatened by the dependency culture encouraged by welfare policy?

• The successful socialisation of the young.

• The maintenance of the work ethic among men.

What are the New Right’s solutions to the ‘problems‘ caused by welfare policy?

They argue that the policy must be changed, with cuts in welfare spending and tighter restrictions on who is eligible for benefits. In their view, this would have several advantages. For example, cutting welfare benefits would mean that taxes could also e reduced, and both these changes would give fathers more incentive to work and provide for their families.

For the New Right, what would denying council housing to unmarried teenage mothers remove?

A major incentive to become pregnant when very younger.

What does the New Right argue about state interest?

That the less the state ‘interferes‘ in families, the better family life will be. Greater self-reliance, and not reliance on the state, is what will enable the family to meet its members needs most effectively.

What do feminists argue against the New Right view?

That it is an attempt to justify a return to the traditional patriarchal nuclear family that subordinated women to men and confined them to a domestic role.

What does the New Right view wrongly assume?

That the patriarchal nuclear family is ‘natural‘ rather than socially constructed

What do Abbott and Wallace argue against the New Right view?

That cutting benefits would simply drive many poor families into even greater poverty and make them even less self-reliant.

What does the New Right ignore?

The many policies that support and maintain the conventional nuclear family rather than undermine it.

Reflecting a New Right view, what did Thatcher’s conservative government ban?

The promotion of homosexuality by local authorities, including a ban on teaching that homosexuality was an acceptable family relationship.

What did the conservatives define divorce as?

A social problem - a view held by the New Right - and emphasised the continued responsibility of parents for their children after divorce. They set up the Child Support Agency to enforce maintenance payments by absent parents (usually fathers).

What did the conservatives introduce?

Measures opposed by the New Right, such as making divorce easier and giving ‘illegitimate‘ children (those born outside of marriage) the same rights as those born to married parents.

What are some similarities between New Right views and those of New Labour?

Like the New Right, New Labour took the view that the family is the bedrock of society and saw a family headed by a married, heterosexual couple as the best environment for bringing up children. Similarly, Like the New Right, New Labour emphasised the need for parents to take responsibility of their children, for example by introducing parenting orders for parents of truants and young offenders,

What do Silva and Smart note?

How New Labour rejected the New Right view that the family should have just one (male) earner and recognised that women too now go out to work.

What did New Labour policies favour?

The kind of dual-earner neo-conventional family described by Chester:

• Longer maternity leave, three months’ unpaid leave for both parents and the right to seek time off work for family reasons. These made it easier for both parents to work.

• Working Families Tax Credit, enabling parents to claim some tax relief on childcare costs.

• The New Deal, helping lone parents return to work.

What do such New Labour policies reflect?

A further difference with the New Right, who oppose state intervention. New Labour argued instead that certain kinds of state intervention can improve life for families.

What are examples of New Labour laws trying to improve life for families?

Their welfare, taxation and minimum wage policies were partly aimed at lifting children out of poverty by re-distributing income to the poor through higher benefits, whereas the New Right disapprove of re-distributing income through taxes and benefits.

What is another area of difference between the New Right and New Labour?

New Labour’s support for alternatives to the conventional heterosexual nuclear family. This included policies such as:

• Civil partnerships for same-sex couples.

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

• Outlawing discrimination on grounds of sexuality.

What have the conservatives been long divided between?

What Hayton calls modernisers and traditionalists.

Who are the modernisers?

Those who recognise that families are now more diverse and are willing to reflect this in their policies.

Who are the traditionalists?

Those who favour a New Right view and reject diversity as morally wrong.

What does the division between modernisers and traditionalists mean for the Conservative party?

That they have found it difficult to maintain a consistent policy line on the family.

For example, the conservative-led coalition government introduced gay marriage - a policy opposed by New Right traditionalists. The influence of traditionalists was also weakened by the fact that the conservatives had to share power in a coalition with the liberal democrats.

What do critics argue about the conservative’s financial austerity policies?

That they reflect the New Right’s desire to cut public spending. However, the government failed to introduce policies that specifically promote the New Right ideal of a conventional heterosexual nuclear family.

What did Browne find?

That two-parent families with children fared particularly badly as a result of the government’s tax and benefits policies.

What view do feminists take?

A conflict view; they see society as patriarchal, benefitting men at women’s expense. They argue that all social institutions, including the state and its policies, help to maintain women’s subordinate position and the unequal gender division of labour in the family.

What are policies often based on?

Assumptions about what the ‘normal‘ family is like.

What do feminists such as Land argue?

That many social policies assume that the ideal family is the patriarchal nuclear family with a male provider and female homemaker plus their dependent children.

What does the norm of what the family should be like affect?

The kind of policies governing family life. In turn, the effect of the policies is often to reinforce the particular type of family at the expense of other types, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

For example, if the state assumes that ‘normal‘ families are based on marriage and offers tax incentives to married couples that are not available to cohabitating couples, this policy may encourage marriage and discourage cohabitation. The policy makes it more difficult for people to live in other family types than the on that policymakers assume they live in.

What do feminists identify numerous examples of?

Policies that help to maintain the conventional patriarchal nuclear family and reinforce women’s economic dependence.

What are example of policies that help to maintain the conventional patriarchal nuclear family and reinforce women’s economic dependence?

• Tax and benefit policies.

• Childcare.

• Care for the sick and elderly.

How do tax and benefit policies help to maintain the conventional patriarchal nuclear family and reinforce women’s economic dependence?

They may assume that husbands are the main wage-earners and that wives are their financial dependents.

This can make it impossible for wives to claim social security benefits in their own right, since it is expected that their husbands will provide. This then reinforce women’s dependence on their husbands.

How do childcare policies help to maintain the conventional patriarchal nuclear family and reinforce women’s economic dependence?

While the government pays for some childcare for pre-school children, this is not enough to permit parents to work full-time unless they can meet the additional costs themselves. Likewise, policies governing school timetables usually make it hard for the parents (usually the mothers) to work full-time unless they can afford extra childcare.

This means women are restricted from working and placed in a position of economic dependence on their partners.

How do care for the sick and elderly policies help to maintain the conventional patriarchal nuclear family and reinforce women’s economic dependence?

Government policies often assume that it is the family that will provide this care. In general, this means it is middle-aged women who are expected to do the caring. In turn, this prevents them from working full-time, increasing their economic dependence on their partners.

What does Leonard argue?

That even where policies appear to support women, they may still reinforce the patriarchal family and act as a form of social control over women.

What is an example of policies appearing to support women, but actually reinforcing patriarchy in the family?

Although maternity leave policies benefit women, they also reinforce patriarchy in the family. Maternity leave entitlement is much more generous than that for paternity leave and this encourages the assumption that the care of infants id the responsibility of mothers rather than fathers. Maternity benefits are also low, thereby increasing mothers’ economic dependence on their partners.

What is another example of policies appearing to support women, but actually reinforcing patriarchy in the family?

Child benefit is normally paid to the mother. Although this gives her a source of income that does not depend on the father, it also assumes that the child’s welfare is primarily her responsibility.

What do examples of policies appearing to support women, but actually reinforcing patriarchy in the family show the importance of?

Social policies in the social construction of family roles and relationships. By making it easier for women to take responsibility for the care of infants or by assuming that men are the main economic providers, social policies help to create and maintain the patriarchal roles and relationships that they assume to be the norm,

Are all policies directed at maintaining patriarchy?

No; for example, equal pay and sex discrimination laws, the right of lesbians to marry, benefits for lone parents, refuges for women escaping domestic violence and equal rights to divorce could all be said to challenge the patriarchal family. Similarly, rape within marriage was made a criminal offence in 1991. These can all be said to improve the position of women in the family and wider society.

What can we see by examining policy from a comparative perspective across different societies?

Whether social policy reinforcing the patriarchal family is inevitable, or whether different policies can encourage more equal family relationships.

For example, a country’s policies on taxation, childcare, welfare services and equal opportunities will all affect whether women can work full time, or whether they have to forgo paid work to care for children or elderly relatives.

What does Drew use the concept of ‘gender regimes‘ to describe?

How social policies in different countries can either encourage or discourage gender equality in the family and at work.

What does Drew identify?

Different types of family policies:

• Familiaristic gender regimes.

• Individualistic gender regimes.

What are familiaristic gender regimes?

Where policies are based on a traditional gender division between male breadwinner and female housewife and carer.

In Greece, for example, there is little state welfare or publicly funded childcare. Women have to rely heavily on support from their extended kin and there is a traditional division of labour.

What are individualistic gender regimes?

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, so each partner has a separate entitlement to state benefits.

What does Drew argue?

That most European Union countries are now moving towards more individualistic gender regimes. This is likely to bring a move away from the traditional patriarchal family and towards a greater gender equality in family roles and relationships.

However, policies such as publicly funded childcare do not come cheap, and they involve major conflicts about who should benefit from social policies and who should pay for them. IT would therefore be naive to assume that there is an inevitable ‘march of progress’ towards gender equality.

What do feminists argue about government spending?

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.

During the global recession period, what was there a trend towards?

Neo-liberal welfare policies, in which individuals and families are encouraged to use the market rather than the state to meet their needs, for example through private pension provision and private care of the old.

What do the differences between European countries show?

That social policies can play an important role in promoting or preventing gender equality in the family.