Sociology and Social Policy

What is social policy? Changes in the law, initiatives, plans by central government to tackle social issues and/or change society in some way

What is the role of the sociologist? Should sociologists be separate from social policy makers – academic and objective? Should their role be to help policy makers make policy or should it be to criticise existing policy and suggest alternatives?

Early Sociologists The founding fathers believed sociologists had an important role to play in changing society – functionalists like Comte and Durkheim saw the role of sociology as preserving social order. Alternatively Marx believed the role of the ‘philosopher’ was to understand the world and to change it – Marx was politically active in revolutionary politics. Research which attempts to change or improve society is sometimes called action research What do you think sociological research should be used for?

Influences on social policy today Social policy is clearly influenced by political ideology e.g. Labour welfarism in the mid to late 20th was heavily influenced by democratic socialism. Cameron’s recent pledge to ‘strengthen families’ is clearly influenced by a New Right agenda. Social policy is also influenced by a growth in knowledge sometimes provided by sociology. Rowntree’s research on poverty helped to change attitudes about the causes of poverty- from seeing the poor as lazy and feckless and the main cause of their own poverty to understanding the structural causes of poverty – low pay, sickness, education, discrimination.

Sociology and New Labour The influence of sociology over social policy at its height under Tony Blair whose ‘guru’ was a leading sociologist Anthony Giddens. Blair’s ditching of Old Labour (socialism) and adoption of the ‘Third Way’ was basically Giddens’ idea.

What was the Third Way? “The Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy” (A. Giddens 1998) Key points Renew civil society – make citizens active – aware not just of their rights but also of their duties and responsibilities Government should promote renewal of civil society through policy Government should tackle social exclusion (detachment from mainstream society by the underclass) Government should introduce better public services (health and education), fund better benefits, and provide opportunities to rise out of poverty.

New Labour Policies Big push against poverty – minimum wage, working Families Tax credit – a top up for low paid workers, big rises in Child benefit, the Sure Start Programme which provided health and support services for low income families with children under 4 Big push against unemployment – The New deal offered education and training for young people aged 18-24 – also funded advisors to help young people assess choices ‘Education, education, education’ massive increase in education spending ‘Building Schools for the Futures’ Also attempt to tackle educational disadvantage ‘Education Action Zones’ and the Academies Programme Citizenship – New Labour made the teaching of Citizenship part of the National Curriculum with an emphasis on rights, duties and responsibilities

Conclusion Whilst sociology can have a big influence on social policy and social attitudes there are many other influences The influence of sociology was probably at its height with the New Labour/Giddens relationship What are the main influences on the current government’s social policies?