Social Policy

Question 1

Examples of social policy

Answer 1

Age restrictions, free NHS, child protection policies, divorce and custody laws, free and compulsory education till 18, maternity and paternity leave

Question 2

Conservative attitude towards social policy

Answer 2

1990 - 1997
clearly influenced by new right thinking, they wanted to encourage growth of nuclear families and believed single parent families were a drain on society . John Major introduced the child support act small child support agency to make absent fathers pay for child support

Question 3

New Labour Party Policy attitudes towards social policy

Answer 3

1997 - 2010
took the stance that the nuclear family and marriage are desirable but accept diversity but don’t condemn it. A key idea is work for those that can, security for those that can’t. They introduced the new deal scheme to encourage single parents back to work and paid extended maternity leave

Question 4

Conservative coalition policies attitudes towards social policy

Answer 4

2010 - present
The current government is similarly in favour of the nuclear family and marriage wherever possible in order to provide children with a stable upbringing. It’s recent policies have however, been controversially focused on saving on government spending, including reductions in child benefit

Question 5

New right perspectives on family and social policy

Answer 5

The right firmly believes in the nuclear family as essential to society and other forms of the family ought to be discourage. This is because without two opposite sex role models, this produces irresponsible and antisocial young people think as like Murray would take a negative view of social policies that they are that they see as undermining the nuclear family and encourage a dependency culture. They are critical of welfare and housing benefits given to single mothers as I believe it encourages them to get pregnant so the state will look after them a concept he uses is perverse incentives which is benefit allowing people to act in this way.

Question 6

Functionalism view on the family and social policy

Answer 6

Functionalist have generally taken a positive view of social policy. Fletcher argues that in Britain, the welfare state takes a lot of pressure off the family by providing free healthcare and education. This allows the families to focus on its primary functions even more.

Question 7

Feminism view of the family and social family

Answer 7

feminist such as land are highly critical of social policies that reinforce traditional gender roles and the patriarchal nuclear family feminist support. Social policies at free women from patriarchy, such as benefits for single parents and divorce, an abortion laws as they allow women to free themselves from patriarchal control.

Question 8

Marxism view on the family and social policy

Answer 8

Marxists would argue that some social policies provided by the welfare state such as free education, healthcare and the welfare state have been won by the working classes as part of the struggle against capitalism. Other mark this would disagree and say such policies are a smokescreen free education is inferior to the private education enjoyed by the bourgeoisie. Free healthcare keeps workers healthy for exploitation.

Surveillance society - Donzelot suggests the state uses policies that involve the family to control societies members. He uses Foucaults idea of surveillance in his work and he suggests the family is controlled through observations