topic 7: family diversity

• what is chinas one child policy?

  A policy aimed to discourage couples from having more than one child.

  From 1979-2016

  Meant that women had to seek workplace permission to become pregnant.

  Couples who complied received extra benefits such as free child healthcare and higher tax allowance
• What did China’s one child policy lead to?


  Underground abortions - increased death

  Aging population

  Strain on their economy as the population slowly decreased
• Communist Romania


  Policies induced to increase the birth rate which had fallen as living standards declined.

  Restricted contraception and abortion, set up infertility treatment centres, made the divorce more difficult, made the legal age to marriage to 15.

  unmarried couples and childless couples had to pay extra 5% income tax.
• What would a Marxist say about Communist Romania?


  That it affects the proletariat as they may not be able to afford children.

  If WC people were to have children during the time that living standards had declined in Romania, then subsequently the quality of childhood would be threatened for those children. Marxists would say they’re exploited, communist Romania is not good for the WC as it creates further inequality
• Nazi family policy


  Introduced in the 1950’s

  Encouraged the healthy and ‘racially pure’ to breed a ‘master race’ e.g. restricted access to abortion and contraception.

  Policy aimed to keep women out the workforce and confine them to ‘children, kitchen and church’.
• what affect would the nazi family policy have on families

  It would cause the nuclear family to increase
• Democratic societies


  They see family as a private sphere of life in which government does not intervene, except when things go wrong - e.g. child abuse.
• A03 of democratic societies


  Although America is considered a democratic society, Southern parts such as Texas have banned abortion - however they are considering overturning.
• Functionalists


  Have a ‘rose tinted view’ - positive, consensus theory.

  Would believe the social policies are great and don‘t disadvantage anybody.
• Connected thesis


  Have choice, but there are restrictions. Our choices are connected to our personal histories, what makes us, us.
• Individualisation thesis


  Traditional relationships, roles and benefits have lost their influence over individuals.
• Functionalist view on social policy

  Society is built on harmony and consensus - free from social conflict.

  The state acts in the interests of society as a whole.

  Fletcher - health, education and housing policies has led to the welfare state that supports the family to perform their functions more effectively. For example, the NHS helps the family take care of sick members by providing doctors and medicines.
• Criticisms of functionalist view on social policy


  Assumes all members of the family benefit from social policies. Feminists argue that policies benefit men at the expense of women.

  Marxists - policies can reverse progress previously made e.g. cutting welfare benefits to poorer families
• Jacques Donzelot (1977) - policing the family


  Conflict view (Marxist)

  Sees policies as a form of state power and control over families.

  Uses Focault’s concept of surveillance (observing and monitoring).

  Argues that social workers, doctors and health visitors use their knowledge to control and change families. Calls this ’policing of families’.

  Argues that surveillance is not targeted equally on all classes ‘poorer families are more likely to be seen as problem families and the cause of crime’.
• Focault (1976) - concept of surveillance


  Sees power as something held by the government and as something diffused throughout society and found within all relationships.

  • e.g Focault sees professionals such as doctors and social workers as agents of social control through their surveillance of families. They exercise their power over their clients by using their knowledge to turn them into ‘cases’.
• Criticisms of Donzelot


  Functionalists + feminists - Donzelot fails to identify who benefits from social policies such as surveillance.

  • e.g women who escape DV from being surveilled by agents of social control.
  • WC people who wouldn’t receive benefits if their salaries weren’t being observed by agents of social control.
• New Right perspectives on families and social policy

  New right are in favour of the nuclear family - as they are self reliant, capable of caring and providing socialisation.

  Increases in divorce, lone parent hood, cohabitation and same sex relationships are producing social problems such as crime and welfare dependency.
• New right perspective - Brenda Almond (2006)


  The following policies have encouraged changes such as divorce, LPFS, cohabitation and same sex relationships.

  • laws making divorce easier
  • introduction of civil partnerships
  • tax laws discriminating against conventional families
  • adoption rights and council house tenancies
• Criticisms of new right perspective

  Feminists would see these changes as positive

  • laws making divorce easier - easier to leave in cases of DV
  • adoption rights: do not need to have sex/be in a relationship to have children
• Murray 1984 - Lone parents, welfare and dependency culture


  Welfare benefits encourage ’dependency culture’ and provide ‘perverse incentives‘ where the state reward irresponsible and anti behaviour such as teen pregnancy.

  Growth of LPFS encouraged by generous benefits. This lack of parental authority is causing raise of crime rates.

  If fathers see state maintains children, some may abandon responsibilities.
• The new rights solution

  Cuts in welfare spending and tighter restrictions on who is eligible for benefits

  • advantage: cutting welfare benefits means that taxes could also be reduced. this would give fathers more incentive to work and provide for their families. Denying council housing to unmarried teenagers
  • advantage: mothers would remove a major incentive to become pregnant young.
• evaluation of new rights solution


  feminists argue that its an attempt to justify a return to the traditional patriarchal nuclear family that conformed women to a domestic role.

  Wrongly assumes that the patriarchal nuclear family is ‘natural’

  rather than socially constructed.

  Abbott and Wallace argue that cutting benefits would simply drive many poor families into even greater poverty and make them even less self reliant
• Feminist view on social policy


  conflict view

  policies help maintain women’s subordinate position and unequal division of labour in the family
• Hillary Land (1978)


  Policy as a self-fulfilling prophecy

  • the norm of what the family should be like affects the kind of policies governing family life.
  • These policies reinforce that particular type of family at the expense of others and it creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.
  • The policy makes it more difficult for people to live in other family types
• Policies supporting the patriarchal family

  Tax and benefits - married couples allowance could reduce tax bills from £353-£912.50

  Childcare - governing school timetables and holidays make it hard for parents to work full time unless they can afford extra child care. Childcare means women are restricted from working.

  Care for sick and elderly - Government policies often assume that the family will provide this care. Women expected to do caring which prevents them from full work. Maternity policies benefit women but reinforce patriarchy. Up until 2015, women could not share parental leave
• Evaluation of policies supporting the patriarchal family


  Not all policies are directed at maintaining patriachy - e.g equal pay act, benefits for lone parents, equal rights and divorce
• Eileen Drew 1995 - Gender Regimes


  Concept of ‘gender regimes’ to describe how social policies can either encourage or discourage gender equality in the family/work.

  Familistic gender regimes - policies based on a traditional gender division of labour. Doesn‘t encourage equality in the household.

  Individualistic gender regimes - policies are based on the belief that husbands and wives should be treated the same. Each partner had a seperate entitlement to state benefits
• State vs market

  European union countries are moving towards individualistic gender regimes.

  Feminists argue since the global recession began in 2008, cutbacks in government spending throughout Europe have led to pressure on women to take more responsibility for caring.

  For example, theres been a trend towards neo-liberal welfare policies where individuals are encouraged to use the market rather than the state to meet their needs.
• State vs market explanation


  State - things given for free like NHS free healthcare, state/public schools

  Market - businesses and other surfaces such as private schools