Social Policy and the Family

Social Policy and The Family 1.What is meant by social policy? 2.How does social policy influence family life? 3.What do different perspectives think about social policy? 4.Is social policy patriarchal?

Social policy Social Policy – government plan of action, laws, agencies and guidance. EXAMPLES:

Comparative Social Policy China’s One Child Policy Communist Romania’s Population Policy Nazi Family Policy These are extreme examples. To what extent do policies in democratic countries influence our families?

Social policies in other countries Nazi family policy- in the 1930’s the government decided that only the racially pure should be able to have children Women were kept out of the workforce and confined to ‘children, kitchen and church 375,000 disabled people were sterilised who were deemed unfit to breed

Social policies in other countries China’s one-child policy- policy is supervised by workplace family planning committees, women must seek permission to try to get pregnant. Couples who comply get extra benefits- free child healthcare and higher tax allowance Those who do not comply pay a fine and women face pressure to be sterilised!!!!

Activity Complete the perspectives grid. Include key words and critiques.

What do they think about social policy? FunctionalismFeminismMarxism New RightPostmodernism

Functionalism Society built on harmony and consensus. Government acts in the interests of the family. Social policies help families perform their functions and make life better. Welfare state supports families (education – helps socialise children, NHS provides health needs)

Evaluation  Do all members of family benefit equally? Feminists argue policies are patriarchal and benefit men at the expense of women.  Assumes a ‘march of progress’ – social policies make life better. Marxists argue some policies can turn the clock back and make life more difficult. E.g. cutting benefits to poor families.

New Right (1980s – Onwards) Conservative Commentators. Similar to Functionalists Critical of Single Parents Children need a male and female role model. Men should be breadwinners and women homemakers. Single parents cost too much in welfare benefits.

New Right Perspectives on social policy Policies should support the Nuclear family as the ideal family type. Policies should discourage people from adopting other life choices e.g. Lone Parenthood, Gay Parents. Divorce is too easy. Heterosexual relationships are no longer seen as superior to gay relationships. Tax laws do not benefit married couples. The State no longer sees marriage as special and superior.

New Right – The Underclass Includes long term unemployed, welfare dependents and single parents. They fail to socialise their children properly. S9Qv29fOLY

The Bell Curve IQ is influenced by inheritance and environmental factors and has a correlation with wealth, birth out of wedlock and crime. More important than poverty.

Murray (1984) Dependency culture Generous welfare benefits encourage deviant and dysfunctional family types. Perverse incentives – reward irresponsible behaviour e.g. The state will support if fathers leave. Council housing encourages teenage girls to become pregnant. More lone-parent families – boys grow up without a male role model.

New Right Solution Less government interference but policy should encourage work ethic and traditional family. Cut welfare benefits. Reduce taxes – gives people more incentive to work and take responsibility for their families. Tax breaks for married couples. Deny council housing to teenage mothers.

Evaluation Feminists – attempt to oppress women and return to traditional gender roles. Assumes nuclear family is natural – when it is a social construct. Cutting benefits will just make people poor. Current policies do support the nuclear family.

Marxist Perspectives on social policy Maintains the Status Quo. Laws made by ruling classes to make it seem as though capitalism works! Dampens down criticism. Social Policies are concessions won by the working class through strikes and protest. Capitalists improve the lives of working classes to stop further protest or revolution.

Evaluation Functionalists would disagree that social policy only works for ruling class. They see policies as benefiting the whole of society. Feminists argue this ignores the patriarchal impact of social policy – with the assumption that childcare is women’s work.

Jacques Donzelot (1977) Policing Families Social policy is a form of state power and control over families. Caring professions act as agents of social control and carry out surveillance on families. Professionals use their knowledge and expert status to turn families into cases. They control and regulate family life by imposing interventions like compulsory parenting orders.

Donzelot – family social policies are just a way of the Government keeping track of us. Surveillance of the family

Imagine if this was applied to schools, hospitals, office building and workplaces... Who has the power? Donzelot (1977), like Marxists and Feminists believes that policies are used to exert power over families. He was inspired by a man named Foucault, who argued that all relationships have a power struggle in them.

Donzelot takes this idea and applies it to families. He argues that professionals are employed to ‘police’ families and put them under ‘surveillance’. Who might do this? Doctors, social services, health visitors, council representatives Donzelot believes that this surveillance is unfairly focused on working classes or poorer people, who are often thought to be blamed for problems such as crime and anti- social behaviour. These poorer families are targeted for ‘improvement’

Condry (2007) Examples of improvement... Compulsory parenting order – parents made to attend parenting classes Fines and imprisonment for parents that allow their children to truant school. Donzelot argues that these policies are a form of CONTROL. Knowledge of the professionals is used as power to control people.

Evaluation Marxists & Feminists critique Donzelot for failing to identify who benefits from this social control. Why are we being controlled? For what purpose? Marxists – capitalism Feminists – patriarchy

Postmodern view of the family No one type of family should be seen as more desirable or less acceptable than others. The traditional two parent family is undesirable as it provides gender roles which disadvantage both men and women. People ‘construct’ their own roles in families in ways that suit them.

Feminist perspectives on social policy Social policy supports the ideology of ‘Familism’ – that the heterosexual, patriarchal two parent family with traditional gender roles is the norm. Maternity entitlement Child benefit paid to Mother. Policies as self-fulfilling prophecy. They assume the nuclear families are the norm, the policies reinforce that type which then goes on to create more nuclear families. It is difficult to live outside the norm.

Policies that support patriarchy Tax and benefits policies Childcare Care for sick and elderly

Evaluation Not all policies maintain patriarchy – e.g. equal pay and sex discrimination laws, lone parent benefits, women’s refuges, law against rape in marriage.

Eileen Drew (1992) Gender Regimes Policies in different countries can either encourage or discourage gender equality in the family and at work. Familistic Gender Regimes Vs Individualistic Gender Regimes

Gender regimes: State Vs Market Most EU countries are moving towards individualistic gender regimes. BUT – In times of austerity, the State is no longer willing to fund the march of progress and people have to use the free market to support them. Private pensions, childcare.

Timeline of recent policies Activity: Use the textbook to create a timeline of recent social policies. Question: What type of gender regime do we have in the UK?

Think… Suggest 3 ways in which government policies might affect family life. (6 marks) What type of policies might affect the family?

Task: How might these polices affect the family? Can you name any specifically? Housing policies Benefits policy Policies on contraception/abortion Adoption policies Educational policies

Suggest 3 ways in which government policies might affect family life. (6 marks) Housing policies – may encourage/discourage extended family structures. Benefits policy - may give more income to some members. Policies on contraception/abortion may affect family size, position of women. Adoption policies may give/deny legitimacy to some family forms. E.g. same sex couples. Educational policies e.g. school leaving age may increase dependency of the young on parents.

1.The Welfare State 2.Legalisation of contraceptive pill for married women 3.Abortion Legalisation 4.Divorce Reform Act 5.Children Act 6.Marital Rape Act 7.Child Support Agency 8.Civil Partnerships 9.Additional Paternity Pay

Social Policy and the Family

Policies that support traditional Families Schools – organised in such a way that it is difficult for SPF or dual worker families to combine work with domestic responsibilities. E.g. School hours, holidays. Elderly and sick – state assistance tends not to be given if they live with their relatives. Public housing policy – some argue that married couples with children tend to be favoured over single parents with children.

Policies that don’t support conventional families Some measures could be seen as undermining traditional male dominance within the family: - Since 1991, men are no longer exempt from being charged with raping their wives. -Increasing intolerance of men using violence to discipline their wives and children Liberalisation of divorce laws – shows the state accepts that marriage does not always guarantee the long term stability of a family. Gay marriage and adoption.

Family Policy in the UK Conservative party ( ) – favoured 2 parent nuclear family "The natural state should be the 2 adult family caring for their children" John Redwood 1993

‘The traditional 2 parent family is best’ Conservative Politician Michael Howard (1993)

The John Major years can be characterised as ‘talk rather than action’. Only 2 pieces of legislation directed at the family were introduced: The Child Support Act (1991) The Family Law Act (1996) The 1991 Act meant that absent fathers would pay in the hope that welfare benefits would be reduced. The 1996 Act introduced a one year waiting period before a couple could divorce; the act was never implemented however.

New Labour Made statements supporting the traditional nuclear family as the best way to bring up children. Adoption Laws – unmarried cohabiting couples right to adopt. Working Families Tax Credit - Reduction in childhood poverty.

Coaliton Government Cuts to welfare benefits – particularily Lone Parents. Gay Marriage Additional Paternity Leave and Pay For new dads whose partners are returning or have returned to work. They have the right to up to 26 weeks' Additional Paternity Leave. ney/video/2013/nov/29/nick- clegg-parental-leave-changes- video?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

Think… Suggest 3 ways in which government policies might affect family life. (6 marks) What type of policies might affect the family?

1.The Welfare State 2.Legalisation of contraceptive pill for married women 3.Abortion Legalisation 4.Divorce Reform Act 5.Children Act 6.Marital Rape Act 7.Child Support Agency 8.Civil Partnerships 9.Additional Paternity Pay

Suggest 3 ways in which government policies might affect family life. (6 marks) Housing policies – may encourage/discourage extended family structures. Benefits policy - may give more income to some members. Policies on contraception/abortion may affect family size, position of women. Adoption policies may give/deny legitimacy to some family forms. E.g. same sex couples. Educational policies e.g. school leaving age may increase dependency of the young on parents.

FuncMarxFemNRPostmods Marital rape (1991):-(:-) Donzelot :-( :-)- Child Reform Act (1988) :-) :-(:-(:-):-) :-(:-) Abortion legalisation (1967) :-(:-):-) <3:-(:-) Contraception legalisation (1961) :-(:-):-) <3:-(:-) Civil Partnerships (2004) and homosexuality legalisation (1967) :-(meh:-):-O:-) <3 Divorce reform:-(meh:-):-O:-) <3 New Deal for LP:-( :-):-( and :-):-) Additional Paternity Pay (2011) :-( cos of roles :-) because of functions :-(:-) :-( cos of roles :-) because of socialisation :-)

Social Policy - Assessment Questions 1.Define the term ‘gender regime’. (2m) 2.Using one example, explain how functionalists see the role of social policies. (2m) 3.Explain what Donzelot means by surveillance of families. (2m) 4.Suggest three ways in which social policies may impact on family life (6m) 5.Outline and explain two social policies or laws and how they have affected the position of children in the family. (10m) 6.Evaluate the view that the main function of social policy is to reproduce patriarchy. (20m) 7.Examine the ways in which laws and social policies affect family life. (20 marks)

Plenary:: Social Policy and The Family 1.What is meant by social policy? 2.How does social policy influence family life? 3.What do different perspectives think about social policy? 4.Is social policy patriarchal?