sociology and social policy

• social problems

  worsley - a social problem is 'a piece of social behaviour that causes public friction and/or private misery and calls for collective action to solve it'

  • eg. poverty, educational underachievement or divorce
• sociological problems

  worsley - 'any pattern of relationship that calls for an explanation' eg. why people commit crime but also why people follow laws

  • for some normal behaviour is just as interesting to sociologists as abnormal behaviour
  • some sociologists however view their job as solving social problems through their own reach
• influence of social policy - electoral popularity

  research findings and recommendations might point to a policy that would be unpopular with a voter base
• influence of social policy - ideological/political governmental preferences

  if the researcher's value stance or perspective is similar to the party in power they may have a greater ability to influence policy
• influence of social policy - interest groups

  groups that seek to influence policies to serve their own interests

  • businesses may succeed in persuading governments to not raise the minimum wage despite it reducing poverty
• influence of social policy - globalisation

  social policy is now influenced on an international scale

  • eg. the international money fund requires less developed countries to charge fees for education and healthcare in order to receive aid, despite this being proven to limit development
• influence of social policy - critical sociology

  some sociological perspectives are distrustful of nation-states, or are viewed as too extremist or impractical to influence policy
• funding sources

  some sociologists may tone down their findings and recommendations to fit in with the views of the person funding the research

  • policymakers may recruit researchers who share their views and assumptions so the research can be used to biasly confirm their views
• mainstream thinking

  social scientists' ideas can become part of mainstream culture and influence the way people view social problems

  • eg. bowlby's monotropic theory that emphasises the importance of a young child's relationship with their mother is now widely accepted which has led to an impact on policies eg. on daycare
• the power to define the problem

  burden - social policies can't be investigated when viewed as neutral responses to problems, as the government in power are the ones able to define what are problems and what should be done to fix issues