Family : New Right - View

• The New Right is closely linked to Functionalism as it is based on consensus. It is a set of ideas which has influenced the political right / Conservative party in recent years. The New Right are pessimistic about modern society and want to return to the 'golden age' which emphasises traditional values.
• The New Right bases its theories on the idea that capitalist society encourages choice as to how individuals spend and earn their money, and what services they want to pay for. Therefore, New Right sociologists believe that excessive state intervention, such as the welfare state should be avoided as this interferes with the workings of the economy. They believe that the free market and competition is the best way of creating efficiency and savings in the business world and public services.
• The New Right see high divorce rates as undesirable as it undermines the nuclear family and helps to create an underclass of female lone parents, leaving boys without a role model. The New Right are in favour of only one family type; the conventional patriarchal two parent family.
• Like Functionalists, the New Right hold the view that there is only ones, The New Right samily type. This s the traditional or conventional nuclear family. Again, like Functionalists, The New Right sees this family as "natural' and based on fundamental biological differences between men and women. In their view this family is the cornerstone of society; a place of contentment, refuge and harmony.
• Finally, the New Right argue that the decline of the traditional family and the growth of family diversity are the cause of many social problems such as higher crime rates and declining moral standards generally.
• The New Right believe that it is important for children to have a stable home, with a married mother and father, and that ideally the wife should be able to stay at home to look after the children.

  They believe that the introduction of the welfare state led to a culture where people depend on hand-outs from the state and that these encourage single parenting, which in turn, they argue leads to deviancy and a decline in morality.