Topic 2: Families & Social Policy

Question 1

Functionalist view of social policy

Answer 1

See the state as acting in the interests of society as a whole and its SP as being for the good of all

See policies as helping families to perform their functions more effectively and making life better for their members

Question 2

Examples of SP and why functionalists like it

Answer 2

Fletcher - health, education and housing policies has led to the development of a welfare state that supports the family in performing its functions more effectively. E.G. the NHS means that with the help of hospitals and medicines, the family is better able to take care of its members

Maternity leave is a good thing = biology differences means women are best suited to expressive role and primary socialising children

Question 3

Evaluation of functionalist view on SP (AO3)

Answer 3

Weaknesses:
Feminists say it assumes all members of the family benefit equally from SP, whereas they argue that policies often benefit men more than women

Marxists say they assume that there is a ‘March of progress’ with social policies, gradually making life better, but policies such as welfare cuts prove otherwise

Question 4

Donzelot’s view on SP: Policing the family

Answer 4

Sees policy as a form of state power and control over families

Argues that social workers, health visitors and doctors use their knowledge to control and change families. (Donzelot calls this ‘the policing of families’)

He sees SP as oppressing and controlling certain types of families

Question 5

Examples of SP and why donzelot doesn’t like it

Answer 5

Parenting orders - parents of young offenders or badly behaved children may be forced to attend parenting classes to learn the ‘correct’ way to raise children

Question 6

Evaluation of Donzelot’s view on SP

Answer 6

Weakness:
Mx and Feminists criticise Donzelot for failing to identify clearly who benefits from such policies and surveillance - Mx argues that SP operate in the interests of the RC and Fems argue that SP operates in the interests of patriarchy

Question 7

Marxist view on SP

Answer 7

SP is an instrument of the RC so benefits the RC whilst exploiting the WC

Policies are heavily biased in the RC favour

Policies that benefit WC families are merely gestures by the RC to keep the WC from rebelling (EG free healthcare and compulsory education)

Many of these changes can easily be taken away by the RC (EG Thatcher made huge cuts to public services in the 1980s)

Question 8

Examples of SP and why Mx don’t like it

Answer 8

Increase in free full time nursery care during WWII. This ensured that women were free to act as a ‘reserve army of labour’. After the war, these nurseries were closed down

Child Support Agency - whilst it appeared to encourage parental responsibility, it was all about cutting state spending and therefore cutting taxes for the rich

Question 9

Evaluation of the Marxist view on SP (AO3)

Answer 9

Weaknesses:
Functionalists criticise Marxists and state that social policies ARE beneficial and do benefit everyone

Question 10

The New Right view on SP

Answer 10

SP should avoid doing anything that might undermine the self reliant family

They see SP as encouraging anti social behaviour: EG fathers abandon their families knowing the state will provide for them, council housing promotes teenage pregnancy + undermines marriage, benefits encourages lone parents who promote the underclass

The new right answer is to reduce welfare support and encourage the NF

Question 11

Examples of SP and why the NR doesn’t like it

Answer 11

Divorce Reform Act 1969 - undermines the idea of a lifelong commitment

Civil partnership act 2005 and same sex marriage 2014 - undermines heterosexual marriage and allowed same sex relationships to be legally recognised on the same terms as marriage

2006 Childcare Act - required councils to make sure there were enough childcare places available for mothers

2001 New Deal - aims to help lone parents get jobs / increase their hours of work

Question 12

Impact SP has had (NR)

Answer 12

SP encourages a dependency culture

Question 13

Evaluation of the NR view on SP (AO3)

Answer 13

Weaknesses:
Feminists argue that their policies are an attempt to justify a return to the traditional NF, which works to subordinate women

Cutting benefits may drive many into poverty, leading to further social problems

Question 14

Feminist view on SP

Answer 14

Policies are based on the assumption that the ‘normal type’ of family is nuclear, with traditional instrumental and expressive roles

Hillary Land - patriarchal policies will encourage marriage and the gendered division of labour - these policies create a SFP as women will see it as the normal way to live if everyone else is in a NF

Question 15

Examples of SP and why feminists don’t like it

Answer 15

Tax and benefits policies may assume that husbands are the main earners

Childcare - government does not pay for childcare enough for parents to work full time, so one parent will have to stay home

2015 = tax break for married couples which favoured the NF

Austerity policies from the 2010 coalition government - reduced spending on public services and cut sure start centres - women expected to stop working to care for elderly

Question 16

Evaluation of the feminist view on SP (AO3)

Answer 16

Liberal feminists argue that changes such as Divorce Reform Act, Equal Pay Act and increased maternity leave/pay are sufficient to bring about gender equality

2015 parental leave = shared between both partners rather than just the woman

Question 17

Prime ministers from 1979-2023 + their party

Answer 17

Margaret Thatcher (conservative) 1979-1990
John Major (conservative) - 1990-1997
Tony Blair (new labour) - 1997-2007
Gordon Brown (new labour) - 2007-2010
David Cameron (conservative) - 2010-2016
Theresa May (conservative) - 2016-2019
Boris Johnson (conservative) - 2019-2022
Liz Truss (conservative) - 2022-2022
Rishi Sunak (conservative) - 2022-present

Question 18

What is social liberalism?

Answer 18

Henricson - a belief in gender equality and acceptance of a wide variety of different types of family

Question 19

New right influence on social policy

Answer 19

Most influential under thatcher

Influence of the NR has declined because there has been a shift amongst right wing politicians towards neo-liberalism
= supports economic views of the NR (low tax, low benefits + minimal state intervention)
= but less emphasis on the desirability of NF

Question 20

Conservative policies promoting NF 1979-97

Answer 20

Section 28 1988- Banned the promotion of homosexuality, including the teaching of it in schools

1988 - cohabiting couples could no longer claim more in tax allowances than a married couple

Child Support Agency 1993 - make absent fathers pay for child support (burden on the state reduced)

Question 21

Conservative policies promoting social liberalism 1979-97

Answer 21

Divorce made easier in 1984

Further legislation gave ‘illegitimate’ children the same rights (eg inheritance rights) as those born within marriage

Question 22

Evaluation of conservative governments 1979-1997 (AO3)

Answer 22

Marxists - new right is an ideology to justify policies that benefit the RC and capitalism. EG the Child Support Agency - while the goal appeared to be encouraging parental responsibility, it was all about cutting public spending and therefore cutting taxes for the rich

Governments of this era were swimming against the tide: their ideology was to protect the traditional family, but this was the period when there was the largest growth in family diversity and changing attitudes (sexuality, divorce etc)

Question 23

New labour governments 1997-2010

Answer 23

Agreed with NR that family was the bedrock of society but disagreed that the man is the breadwinner. Advocated social liberalism

Favoured dual earner and neo-conventional families

Question 24

New Labour policies promoting social liberalism 1997-2010

Answer 24

Working Families Tax Credit - Enabling parents to claim some tax relief on childcare costs

Extension of Maternity Leave

Sure Start Centres - provided child services, parenting course + play for children

2006 Childcare Act - required councils to make sure there were enough childcare places available for mothers in the area

2001 New Deal - aims to help lone parents get jobs or increase their hours of work

The Equality Act 2007 (Sexual Orientation)

Civil Partnership Act 2005

Question 25

Evaluating the Labour governments 1997-2010

Answer 25

Strengths:
Advocated social liberalism and an interventionist approach (unlike the NR)

Major shift away from family policies favouring the traditional nuclear family and promoted gender equality

Aimed to cut child poverty and redistribute income to the poor

Weaknesses:
They did attempt to support AND control family life (eg Sure Start + 1998 Supporting Families Green Paper)
= so in a way, they did prefer children to live with their parents and therefore reduce their reliance upon benefits and the state

Some would criticise the New Labour governments for not going further. The Civil Partnership Act missed the opportunity to bring about true equality and introduce gay marriage (introduced by the coalition government 9 years later)

Question 26

Coalition government 2010-2015

Answer 26

Conservatives (David Cameron) had to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in order to get their legislation through

Conservatives (traditionalists) had a mixture of maintaining the New Right approach with more modern attitudes, whereas the Liberal Democrats (modernisers) tended to have a more liberal approach, accepting alternative family types

This meant it was hard to maintain a consistent policy line on the family

Question 27

Coalition policies promoting the NF 2010-2015

Answer 27

Removing the couples’ penalty was an approach to ensuring that the benefits system did not include a perverse incentive for couples to break up in order to receive more benefits

2011 - £450 billion programme targeting 120,000 problem families - CONTROL rather than SUPPORT

Significant cuts to Sure Start Centres

2015 = tax break for married couples and civil partners = favoured the NF

2017 = government withdrew child benefit from new claimants for third/additional children = designed to discourage benefit-reliant families from having children they couldn’t afford to support

Question 28

Coalition policies promoting social liberalism 2010-2015

Answer 28

Childcare policies from 2010-2017 gave addition support to families where BOTH partners worked

Equality Act 2010 = legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society

Same sex marriage legalised 2014

2015 - parental leave = shared between both partners rather than just the woman

Question 29

Evaluating the Coalition government 2010-2015

Answer 29

Strengths:
Coalition policies only matched the conservative rhetoric to an extent, and did move towards greater social liberalism compared to past conservative governments

Weaknesses:
They were more interested in saving money than a desire to promote/discourage traditional family norms (austerity policies)
= these policies hit the finances of most families and households

Question 30

The New Right: Social Policy is biased AGAINST the nuclear family

Answer 30

Morgan argues that social policies have encouraged lone parenthood for those of low income.

She states that there has been a war between the state and the family which has been very damaging to family life:

1. Abolishing marriage - tax and benefits have been changed to remove any advantages for married couples
2. Divorce and lone parents - divorce easier since 1960s. Benefits system also geared towards supporting lone parents better than two parent families on low income
3. The state as breadwinner - as a result, the state has become the breadwinner rather than the men of the house. Benefits system has made it increasingly likely that lone parents rely upon benefits. People ‘faking it’ - living together but pretending to live apart to obtain benefits
4. The state as child carer - New Labour government established the lone mother family type as the BASIC family type - the state funded childcare to mothers didn’t need the support of a breadwinner

Question 31

Social policy as biased towards conventional families

Answer 31

Feminists argue that policies tend to favour the traditional NF in which there are 2 parents: a male breadwinner and a woman staying at home

HOW?
1. School hours and long school holidays = hard for parents to both work full time - mother will stay home

2. Care of relatives = seen as female responsibility. Cut in spending + social care by 11% per adult under the Coalition and Conservative governments
3. Benefits cuts = more people living at home = more pressure on mother
4. 2015 tax break only for married couples = favoured the NF

Question 32

Evaluation - have SP supported the NF or not

Answer 32

There was a big move away from New Right approaches towards a more liberalist approach

But many policies still favour the NF

Question 33

Impact of SP on family structures

Answer 33

1. Increased cohabitation and delayed marriage:
   - career aspirations of women mean that marriage is delayed
   - contraception and legislation of abortion - delay having children
   (Equal pay act / sex discrimination act)
2. Increased divorce:
   - divorce reform has led to increase in breakdown of traditional family unit
   - more lone parent families, lone-person households and more reconstituted families
   (Divorce reform act / child tax credits)
3. Same sex families:
   - decriminalisation of homosexuality. Introduction of civil partnerships and same sex marriage
   - changes to legislation to adoption
   (Adoption and children’s act 2002 / same sex marriage legalised in 2014)
4. More lone-parent families:
   - welfare state provides protections for lone parent families
   (2001 new deal / child support agency)

Question 34

Impact of SP on gender roles

Answer 34

Maternity and paternity leave:
- radical fem - 9 months paid maternity leave reinforces the expressive role for women
- lib fem - shared parental leave 2015 allows women to return to work = emphasises shared responsibility

Increased divorce and negotiated family:
- gender roles more equal in a negotiated family - men are more involved in domestic labour and childcare
- women contribute to family income

Availability of childcare:
- opportunities such as 30 hour free childcare remove social expectation of women to stop working
- sure start centres provide dad and baby clubs to help men bond more with their children

Increased career opportunities:
- gender roles have become more equal as a result of women’s employment (equal pay act and sex discrimination act)