families and social policy

Question 1

functionalist view

Answer 1

• the state is acting in the interest of society as the policies are good for all (consensus view)
• policies improve functions working harmoniously
• Fletcher:
  welfare state development helps support the family as it performs functions

evaluation:
- assumes all members benefit equally
- feminists –> men have greater benefits
- Marxists –> some policies are harmful, like cutting benefits

Question 2

new right view

Answer 2

• in favour of policies that promote traditional patriarchal, heterosexual, nuclear family and oppose ones promoting family diversity
• theer should be little government intervention into family life as thats the best way members meet their needs
• Murray:
  prefers self-reliance and freedom from the state –> against policies that promote welfare dependency (like benefits)

evaluation:
- feminists –> against patriarchal views, a patriarchal family is socially constructed and not natural as the new right suggest
- Wallace and Abbott –> reducing benefits would increase poverty making families more reliant on the state

Question 3

feminist view

Answer 3

• policies set expectations of what families should look like whcih creates a self-fulfilling policy
• policies increase women’s economic dependence:
  benefits
  childcare
  unpaid care work
  maternity leave pay
  child benefit

Land:
policies are based on the of a ‘normal’ family, which is an assumed patriarchal nuclear family

evaluation:
- not all policies are patriarchal, many chanllenge gender discrimination –> equal pay act, same sex marriage, sex discrimination act, equality act

Question 4

donzelot view

Answer 4

• policing the family, conflict view
• its a form of state power and control over families
• surveillance isnt distributed evenly as lower class families are more likely to be surveilled

Evaluation:
- functionalists –> policy only improves society, taking a march of progress view
- marxists and feminists –> fails to identify which groups benefit from surveillance (ruling class/ men)

Question 5

china one child policy

Answer 5

-in order to control population growth, the chinese government discouraged couples from having more than 1 child
- this policy was supervised by workplace family planning committees
- following this policy meant extra benfits like free childcare
- ‘only children’ had priority access to education and housing
- women were often sterilised after one child

consequences:
- less to many baby girls being abandoned in order to carry on the blood line, which meant a large proportion of the genration were male
- larger ageing population
- the only children faced psychological and social issues

Question 6

communist romania

Answer 6

• in order to drive up birth rates which were recently falling
• pro-natalist policies were introduced
• contraception and abortion were restricted
• infertility treatment were offered
• divorce was made difficult
• legal marriage age was lowered to 15
• unmarried/ childless couples paid extra taxes

consequences:
- large numbers of children were put in orphanages as their parents couldnt care for them
- increased poverty

Question 7

nazi family policy

Answer 7

• eugenics policies enforces sterilisation of thsoe not part of the “master race”
• encourgaed more childbirth by ayran couples
• women were kept out the workplace, emphasied “children, kitchen, church”