New Right And Family Flashcards
What’s the new right view
Political perspective associated with Conservative party. Believe in golden age and support traditional values and institutions and focus on reduction of government spending on benefits as they think they should be self reliant.
New right on family
Focus on importance of nuclear family and beneficial for society. Believe traditional family should remain dominant family as they see other family types as inadequate and inferior.
Lack of traditional family results in social problems
What’s murray 1990 theory
claims welfare benefits are too generous and create culture of dependency.
Opposed to cohabitation because marriage strengthens family bonds- cohabiting couples more likely to split up than married.
Growth of mothers in full time work is unhelpful- mothers can’t fulfill expressive role
Families should be heterosexual because children need role model of each gender
What’s culture of dependency
Where poor people become dependent on state which crafted underclass of people who become work shy
Who are the people who get culture of dependency
Generally lone parent families
What evidence does new right put forward to support that family is decline
Increase in Lone parent Fatherless Divorce rates Cohabitation Gay and lesbian
causes of family decline
Breakdown of traditional family values
Over generous welfare benefits to single mothers freeing fathers
Influence of feminism devalued marriage, domesticity and child rearing
Increased sexual permissiveness
Greater tolerance of homosexual couples
What are the consequences of family decline
Fragmental family is no longer performing its functions effectively. Fails to provide adequate socialisation resulting in underachieving and anti social behaviour
What did Dennis and erdos find in their families without fathers study
- Increasing children born outside marriage and raised by single mothers who on average have poorer health and grades.
- Main concern is boys grow up without expectation that adulthood has responsibilities for wife, children making them irresponsible, immature.
- families without fathers aren’t adequate alternative to nuclear
Strengths of new right
Support from functionalism
Conservatives in power 1979-1997 from voting
Introduced marriage tax credits
Weaknesses of new right
Blame victims for problems that aren’t their fault Think other families are inferior Idealised view on past Don’t consider emotions Doesn’t recognise family diversity Outdated Ethnocentric Lack of evidence suggesting other families are inferior
What did dermott and pomati say
No difference in good parenting from differnt family types
Murray’s beliefs on the family
Opposed to cohabitation because marriage strengthens family bonds so cohabiting more likely to split then married.
Growth of mothers in full time work is unhelpful because it means that mothers cannot fulfil the expressive file of bringing up children to be good citizens.
Families should be heterosexual as need good role models of each gender
