Perspectives on family and social policies

• society is built on harmonies, consensus (shared values) and free from major conflicts

• the state acts in the interests of society as a whole

• social policies are in the interests of society as it helps families perform their functions more effectively

• Fletched- healthy, education and housing policies after the industrial revolution has lead to development of a welfare state that supports the family in performing functions more effectively (eg national health services allow people to look after their family better when their sick)

• assumes that all members of the family benefit equally when feminists argue that policies often benefit men at the expense of women

• assumes there is a march of progress with social policies making making family life better steadily when marxists would argue that policies can turn a clock back and reverse progress previously made (eg-cutting welfare benefits to poor families)

• Donzelot-policies form power and control over families

• Foucault-power isn't just a held by the government or state but is diffused (spread) throughout society and found within families
  --> professionals (eg-doctors) exercise power onto clients through expert knowledge to turn them into cases to be dealt with
  --> Donzelot uses this concept to to talk about how professionals (eg-social workers) carry out surveillance of families by using their knowledge to control and change of families this is called the policing of the family
  --> poor families are more likely to be seen as problem families, cause of crime and anti-social behaviour therefore are seen as a target for improvement by professionals this shows that surveillance is not targeted equally between social groups

• Condry-the state may try to control the family by making compulsory parenting orders where parents that were badly behavioured children (eg-young offenders) may be forced to take parenting class to learn the correct way to bring up children

• it fails to identify who benefits from the policies of surveillance (marxists argue capitalists while feminists argue men)

the very traditional nuclear family (hetrosexual married couple with the man as breadwinner and women as house carer) is self reliant and capable of caring and providing for its members and successfully socialise children

• changes that have led to greater family diversity threatens the conventional family and produces social problems such and crime and welfare dependency

• Almond-laws that make divorce easier undermines the idea that it is lifelong
  --> introduction of civil partnership (legally recognised relationship between same-sex couples) sends out the message that the state doesn't see hetrosexual relationships as superior
  --> tax laws discriminate against conventional families with a sole breadwinner as they cannot transfer the unemployed partner's tax allowance to the employed partner so they tend to pay more tax then dual-earner couples

• increased rights for unmarried cohabitation (eg-adoption rights) make cohabitation as more similar and doesn't show marriage as special or better

• Murray-providing generous welfare benefits (eg-council houses) for unmarried teenage mothers and cash benefits for lone-parent families undermines the conventional nuclear family and encourages deviant and dysfunctional family types that harm society
  --> welfare benefits offer perverse incentives such as encouraging teenage girls to get pregnant for council houses or encouraging dads to leave their children as lone parent families have generous genedits which causes more boys to have no male role model causing a rise in crime rate among young males
  --> this encouraged dependency culture threatens the successful socialisation of children and the maintenance of work ethic among men which is essential functions of the family

• there should be tighter restrictions on who is eligible

• there should be a cut in welfare benefits so that taxes can be lower and so that fathers have more incentive to work and provide for the family

• denying council housing to unmarried teenage mothers removes the incentive to get pregnant young

• they also advocate policies that favour the nuclear family such as a policy that taxes should favour married couples and making fathers responsible for their children

• the state should interfere less in families so that family life will be better due to a greater self-reliance and needs being met more effectively

• feminists-they are trying to justify a return to a traditional patriarchal nuclear family

• Abbott + Wallace-cutting benefits would make poor families into greater poverty and make them less self-reliant

• wrongly assumes the patriarchal nuclear family is natural rather then socially constructed

• they ignore policies that support and maintain the conventional nuclear family

• Thatcher-banned the promotion of homosexuality such as teaching it to be an acceptable family type

• defined marriage as a social problem (causes negative impact for many)

• Child Support Agencies-enforce maintenance payments by absent parents to emphasise the responsibility of parents after divorce

• made divorce easier

• giving illegitimate children the same rights as ones born to married parents

• family is the bedrock of society

• families with married, hetrosexual couples are the best enviroment to bring up children

• Parenting Orders for parents of truants and young offenders showing tat parents should take responsibility for their children

• Silva + Smart- New Labour rejected the New Right view that family should have just one male earner
  --> favour Chester's dual-earner neo-conventional family (nuclear family is ideal even with increased family diversity)
  --> created a policy that allows longer maternity leave (unpaid) for both parents
  --> allow parents to seek time off work for family reasons
  --> Working Family Tax Credit-parents can claim some tax relief
  --> New Deal-help lone parents return to work

• state intervention can improve life for families as welfare, taxation and minimum wage policies can help children out of poverty and re-distribute income to the poor through higher benefits

• introduced policies allowing civil partnership for same sex-coupes

• introduced policies allowing unmarried couples to have the same rights to adopt

• introduced policies outlawing discrimination due to sexuality

• Hayton
  --> modernisers-families are more diverse and are willing to change policies
  --> traditionalists reject family diversity as morally wrong (favour New Right view)

• found it hard to maintain consistent policy line (eg-the coservative led coalation government introduced gay marriage which the New Right tradiotionalists opposed to)

• Traditionalists' influence was weakened as concervatives had to share power in coalation with Liberal Democrats

• conservative government's financial austerity policies reflected the New rights desire to cut public spending

• the government failed to introduce policies that specifically promote the New Right ideal of Conventional hetrosecual nuclear family
  --> Browne-two parent families with children fared particularly bad as a result of the government's tax and benefits policies

• social institutions and it's policies help maintain women's subordinate position and the unequal gender division of labour in the family

• Land-social policies assume that the ideal family is a patriarchal nuclear family which affects the policies governing the family
  --> policies reinforce that particular family type which creates a self-fulfilling prophecy (eg-if the government offers tax incentives to married couples that would encourage marriage )
  --> policies make it more difficult to live in other family types

• tax and benefit policies-assume husbands are the main wage earner while the wife is financially dependent making it harder for wives to claim social security benefits which reinforces women's dependence on their husbands

• childcare-the government pays for some childcare for preschool children but it isn't enough to allow them to work full time unless they are able to meet additional costs themselves
  --> school holidays also make it hard to work fulltime which restricts women from working and makes them economically dependent on their partner

• care for the sick and elderly-policies assume that the family will provide this care (especially middle-aged women) which prevents them from working fulltime and increases economic dependence

• Leonard-even when policies seem to benefit women they still reinforce the patriarchal family and acts as a form of social control over women
  --> maternity leave policies seem like they benefit women when it reinforces patriarchy as maternity leave entitlement is is more generous than paternity leave reinforcing the idea that women should look after the children which increases mother's economic dependence
  --> child benefit is paid to the mother which gives a source of income that is not dependent on the father but but it assumes that the child's welfare is primarily her responsibility

• not all policies are directed at maintaining patriarchy (eg-equal pay, sex discrimination laws and rights of lesbians to marry) and instead improve the position of women

• Drew-social policies can encourage or discourage gender equality
  --> familistic gender regimes-policies are based on the traditional gender division (eg-Greece has little state welfare or publically funded childcare so women have to rely on extended kin)
  --> individualistic gender regimes-policies are based on the idea that husbands and wives should be treated equally so wives are not financially dependent on their wives and and each partner has separate entitlement to tax benefits (eg-Sweden husbands and wives are equally responsible for breadwinning and domestic tasks so women are less dependent on their husbands and have more opportunities to work)

• Drew-European Union countries are moving towards the individualistic gender regime, decreasing the traditional patriarchal family and towards greater gender equality

• policies such as publicly funded child care does not come cheap therefore there are major conflicts of who should benefit from social policies and who should pay for them showing that there is nor an inevitable march of progress towards gender equality
  --> feminists-since the global recession cutbacks in government spending throughout Europe has led to pressure on women to take more responsibility to care for family members as the state retreats from providing welfare
  --> during the global recession there was a trend towards neoliberal welfare policies (they should be responsible for their own welfare, education and healthcare instead of the state ) in order to meet needs (eg-private pension provision)