Families and social policy

Provide examples of social policy links to family (pro and anti natal policies)

China - Aimed to limit families to one child, supervised by workplace family planning committees. Women needed permission to get pregnant, with quotas for factories. Benefits for compliance included free child healthcare and higher tax allowances. Only children received education and housing priority. Breaking the policy led to fines and pressure for sterilisation.

Communist Romania - In the 1980s, Romania aimed to boost birth rates by restricting contraception and abortion, lowering the marriage age to 15, limiting divorce, and imposing a 5% income tax on unmarried or childless adults.

What is the functionalist perspective on family and social policy

Functionalists see society as based on harmony and shared values, with the state working for the common good. Social policies help families perform their roles more effectively.

Ronald Fletcher (1966) argues that health, education, and housing policies since the industrial revolution have strengthened family functions. For example, the NHS helps families care for sick members with access to doctors, hospitals, and medicine.

Criticisms of the functionalist view of family and social policy

• Unequal benefits: Feminists argue social policies often favour men over women.

  March of progress myth: Marxists claim policies can reverse progress, e.g., by cutting welfare for poor families

Define Gender Regimes in the context of family policy.

Gender Regimes are societal approaches that either encourage or discourage gender equality through social policies.

Thinker: Drew (1995) describes how social policies in different countries can either encourage or discourage gender equality in the family and workplace, impacting the division of labour. This is achieved through policies such as publicly funded childcare, care for the elderly, and maternity/paternity leave.

Explain Familistic Regimes

Policies are based on the male breadwinner and female homemaker model. There is often little state welfare for childcare or elderly care, with the traditional family expected to provide the majority of unpaid labor for care.

Example: Greece, where women are relied on to support their extended kin, and there is a traditional division of labor. It may be argued this upholds patriarchy and makes women dependent on their husbands.

How do social policies affect families?

Social policies promote or prevent equality, influencing family forms and women's independence. This can be seen through tax and benefit policies which may assume that men are the main wage earners, childcare policies, maternity leave, and care for the sick/elderly which can place women in a position of dependence on their partners, creating a gender pay gap, which is unfair.

What is the New Right's view on family policy?

The New Right sees the family as the bedrock of society. They are critical of policies undermining the traditional nuclear family and favor those that encourage marriage. Thinker: Almond (2006) argues that changes, such as the legalisation of same-sex partnerships and the recognition of unmarried cohabitants, threaten the traditional nuclear family.

What is the feminist view on family policy?

Feminists view society as patriarchal (male-dominated). They argue for policies that help maintain women's economic position and challenge the unequal division of labor, criticizing policies that reinforce traditional gender roles. They disagree that heterosexual parents are the norm as they believe different family types seem less valid. Instead, feminists support equal pay and anti-discrimination laws.

Give an example of a policy supporting the traditional patriarchal nuclear family.

Maternity leave policies may reinforce patriarchy as the responsibility of childcare lies more with mothers, and paternity leave is less generous which encourages the assumption that the care of infants is the responsibility of mothers rather than fathers. This may impact their economic dependence on their partners.

How can welfare policies influence a dependency culture?

Generous welfare benefits may undermine marriage and work incentives, leading to reliance on state support, especially for single parents. Thinker: Charles Murray argues welfare undermines the conventional family. Murray argues that these benefits offer 'perverse incentives' that undermine responsible and social behaviour which is seen as a major authority for a rise in the crime rate amongst young males.

What is the New Right solution to family issues?

Reduce welfare, lower taxes, support traditional families (married, heterosexual), and make parents responsible for children. Thinker: Hayton (2010) argues Conservative-led governments have been divided between modernisers and traditionalists who favour a New Right view of the family.

What criticisms do feminists have of New Right family policy?

Feminists argue that New Right thinking traps women and confines them to a domestic role, undermining their economic independence. Welfare cuts can significantly affect single mothers, who are more likely to live in poverty, as a result of this New Right thinking.

How have Conservative-led governments reflected the new right view on social policy

The New Right sees the family as the bedrock of society. They are critical of policies undermining the traditional nuclear family and favor those that encourage marriage. Conservative-led governments have been divided between modernisers and traditionalists who favour a New Right view of the family, with government spending reflecting the prioritisation of heterosexual nuclear families.

What is the feminist view on family policy, and how does this contrast with policies affecting single mothers?

Feminists view society as patriarchal and argue for policies that maintain women's economic position and challenge the unequal division of labor. They disagree that heterosexual parents are the norm, believing diverse family types should be equally valued. Conversely, welfare cuts significantly affect single mothers, often increasing their likelihood of living in poverty due to New Right thinking.

How can welfare policies influence a dependency culture? What policies did New Labour introduce to counteract this?

Generous welfare benefits may undermine marriage and work incentives, leading to reliance on state support, especially for single parents. Thinker: Charles Murray argues that welfare undermines the conventional family. New Labour governments emphasized the need for parents to take responsibility for their children, as seen through the introduction of Parenting Orders for parents of truants and young offenders.

What is the New Right's solution to family issues? How have Conservative-led governments approached this?

Reduce welfare, lower taxes, support traditional families (married, heterosexual), and make parents responsible for children. Thinker: Hayton argues Conservative policies reflect a New Right view. Conservative-led governments have consisted of modernisers and traditionalists who favour a New Right view of the family.

What is Donzelot's perspective on the relationship between the family and state policies?

Donzelot offers a different perspective compared to functionalists. Rather than seeing policy as benefiting the family, he has a conflict view of society and sees policy as a form of state power and control over families.

Explain Donzelot's concept of the "policing of families."

The concept refers to how professionals like social workers exercise power using their expert knowledge to carry out surveillance and control/change families. This shows the importance of professional knowledge as a form of power and control.

What are the main criticisms of Donzelot's perspective?

Marxists and feminists criticize Donzelot for failing to identify who benefits from the policies of surveillance. Marxists say policies generally operate in the interests of the capitalist class, while feminists argue that men are the main beneficiaries.