SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL POLICY

• Worsley: Social problems

  Issue that concerns both public and policy maker, e.g. crime
• Worsley: Sociological problem

  Struggle of deterministic values
• Donnison: Societal change and social policy

  Social policies and cutbacks as a result of societal change
• Austerity

  2008 economic crash resulted in cutbacks on public services, healthcare, childcare, housing and social services
• Absolute poverty

  Lack of basic resources
• Relative poverty

  deprivation relative to average quality of life experienced by rest of society
• Donnison: Sociology impact on political agenda

  Third Way government adapted by Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair
• Hope and Walters: Electoral popularity

  Politicians want to appeal to voters and time consuming policies are not in the interests of politicians
• Hope and Walters: Lobbyists and pressure groups


  Social policies may be adopted because of private businesses and groups makign demands
• Hope and Walters: Objectivity

  Biggest funder of sociological research is the government, how objective is this?
• Marxism: Revolution not reform

  Sees policy as a way to prop up capitalism and inequalities will remain
• Labelling theorists: rehabilitation

  Championed against reintegrative shaming, wants to allow convictions to be nulled
• Feminists: Women's rights

  Women have fought for equal rights, reforms on divorce, domestic abuse, sexual harassment, abortion and other reproductive rights
• Functionalism: Family values

  Parsons helped maintain notion that marriage and traditional family are bedrock of society
• New Right: Welfare

  Influential on areas such as tax laws to promote marriage and prevent single parent families