Families and social policy – AS Sociology
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What policies did the Russian Revolution (1917) influence?
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Newly formed soviet union changed laws in the 20s such as divorce and abortion easy to obtain and guaranteed equality between sexes e.g. women entered employment on a vast scale
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What other perspective did the newly formed soviet union policies keep with?
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Marxism as they expected to abolition of capitalist ownership of means of production would lead to the traditional family 'withering away'
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What problems did the newly formed soviet union face and what did this result in?
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The civil war, famine and after Hitler's rise to power in 1933 the threat of war with Nazi Germany increased the need for rapid industrialisation and preparing for the war This altered policies as divorce laws were tightened and parents encouraged to have more children by being rewarded with bigger family allowances
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How was parenthood glorified in the newly formed soviet union after Hitler's rise to power in 1933?
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State and media gave highly fertile women the title of 'Hero Mother of Soviet union thus encouraging parenthood
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What did China's one-child policy do?
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Discouraged families from having more than one child
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What does Wilson (1985) say about China's one-child policy?
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It was supervised by workplace family planning committees which meant that women must seek permission to try and become pregnant, often a waiting and different quota for each factory was involved If couples complied they would receive extra benefits such as free child healthcare whereas if the broke the agreement they would have to repay allowances and a fee
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How was the one-child policy encouraged medically?
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Women were pressure to undergo sterilization after their first child
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What polices did the former communist government of Romania in the 1980s entail?
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A series of policies were put in place to drive up the birth rate that had fallen during the decline in standards of living They restricted abortion and contraception aswell as setting up infertility treatment centres plus a 5% extra income tax for unmarried adults and childless couples
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What policies did Nazi Germany in the 1930s convey?
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Encouraged healthy and supposedly 'racially pure' to breed a 'master race' also keeping women out of the workforce confined to the kitchen, childcare and church' where it was better to perform their 'biological' role Sterilised 375,000 disabled who were deemed unfit to breed on the grounds of issues such as physical malformation, epilepsy and deafness or blindness who many of were also murdered in later Nazi concentration camps
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Britain's social policies?
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Britain believes the family is a sphere which the government does not intervene in except for when things 'go wrong' such as child abuse
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Functionalists view on state policies?
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They believe society is built on a value consensus and state policies are for the good of all, helping families to perform the function more effectively and making family life better for members
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Fletcher (1966) functionalist favour this social policy
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Introduction of health, education and housing policies since the industrialization have gradually led to a welfare states which supports the family in performing its functions For example the NHS enables them to take care of their members more effectively with the help of nurses, doctors, hospitals and medicine
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Criticism of the functionalist view on social polices?
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Marxists state that policies could 'turn clock back' and reverse progress by cutting welfare benefits to poor families for example
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What is The New Right view on social policies?
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The New Right favour the traditional nuclear family (male provider and female housewife) which is self-reliant and capable of coping for members Social policies should avoid doing anything to undermine the 'natural' self-reliant family, the less the state 'interferes' the better
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The New Right example of a negative social policy, Murray(1984)
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Over-generous welfare state weakens the self-reliant family Murray 'perverse incentive' states it rewards antisocial and irresponsible behavior such as some fathers seeing the state as maintaining their children thus abandon their responsibilities towards the family
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What do social policies encourage according to The New Right and how could this be dealt wit?
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A 'dependency culture' tighter restrictions on benefit eligibility and cuts in welfare such as restricting housing for unmarried teen mothers may remove the incentive to become pregnant young
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Policy that supports The New Right?
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Taxes that favour married couples over cohabiting couples
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What does the New Labour think of social policies?
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(Similar to TNR) favours strengthening marriage and families headed by a nuclear couple as they are best 'fit' to raise children e.g reducing benefits for lone-parent families (More positive than TNR) certan kinds of state intervention can improve family life, introduced same rights for unmarried, cohabiting couples (including same-sex couples) to adopt as married couples
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What do feminists think of social policies?
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They are based on assumptions of what a 'normal' family is like which reinforces that type on others, for example if it is assumed that married is the 'normal' that it offers benefits and tax incentives to married couples which are not available to cohabiting couples which may lead to a 'self-fulfilling prophecy' by discouraging that family type
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What does Land (1978) state social policies do? (Feminism)
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Often assume the ideal family is the patriarchal nuclear family with a male provided and female home-maker with dependent children which may reinforce patriarchy and women's dependence on men
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Leonard (1978) even where policies appear to support women, they may...
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still reinforce the patriarchal family though maternity leave as it reinforces the idea that care of infants is the mother's responsibility
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Criticism of Feminist view on social policies
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Not all policies are directed at maintain patriarchy such as the equal pay act and sex discrimination laws
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Who created 'gender regimes' and how do they link to social policy?
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Drew (1915) the describe how social policies differ in countries as some may encourage or discourage gender equality in the family and at work
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What are Traditional 'familistic' gender regime and an example?
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Base policies on assumption that the husband works and the woman stays at home responsible for childbearing and housework An example is Greece where there is little state welfare of publicly funded childcare meaning women must rely on support from extended kin and traditional division of labour
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What are more equal 'individualistic' gender regimes and an example?
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Base policies on the belief that both husband and wife should be treated equally and it is not assumed that the wife is financially dependent on the husband An example is Sweden where both are responsible for 'breadwinning' and domestic work with policies such as equal opportunities and state provision of childcare
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What countries are now becoming individualistic?
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Many EU union countries
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Problem with one more equal 'individualistic' gender regime policy
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Publicly funded childcare is expensive and involve conflicts about who is eligible so it is naïve to assume the patriarchal family will eventually disappear
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What are Marxist's views society and the family?
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To survive, workers must sell labour to capitalists for wages enabling capitalists to exploit them making a profit by paying less than the value of what they produced, all institutions help maintain class inequality e.g the family reproduces the labour of the workforce
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What are Marxist's views on social policies?
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They believe social policies serve capitalism for example low levels of state pension is evidence that once workers are 'too old' produce profits they are 'maintained' at lowest possible cost
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Example of social policies reversing improvements (Marxism)
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Improvements can be easily lost such as when Mrs Thatcher's government made major cuts to public services in the 1980s
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Why do some policies come about? (Marxism) + Wilson
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As needs of capitalism for example during World War 2 women were needed as a 'reserve army of labour' as large numbers of men joined the armed forces Wilson states the government quickly built 1450 full-time nurseries to cater for children of working mothers however when the war ended they were shut down as women were no longer needed in the workforce
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Donzelot (1977) policy of families study
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Saw policies as form of state power over the family (Like Marxists and feminists) He uses Foucault's (1976) concept of surveillance to explain Social workers, health visitors and doctors (caring-professionals) act as a form of social control by using their expert knowledge to 'police the family' Surveillance is not always targeted equally among social class, often focusing on poor families as 'problem' families and cause of crime and antisocial behaviour
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Condry (2007) example of surveillance
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State may seek control and regulate family life by imposing compulsory parenting orders through courts such as parents of young offenders forced to attend parenting classes to learn 'correct' way to bring up children
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Criticism of Donzelot
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Marxists and Feminists say he fails to clearly identify the main beneficences from such social policies of surveillance
