Perspectives on social policy and sociology

• Positivism and functionalism:


  Early positivists such as Comte and Durkheim: took the view that sociology was a science and would discover both the cause of social problems and scientifically based solutions to them. Their approach was part of the Enlightenment project to use science and reason to improve society. E.G. Durkheim's analysis led him to propose a meritocratic education system and the abolition of inherited wealth as ways to foster a sense that society was fair, which would promote social cohesion.
• Positivism and functionalism:


  Functionalists see society as based on value consensus and free from fundamental conflicts.
• Positivism and functionalism:


  Like positivists, they see the state as serving the interests of society as a whole, producing and implementing rational social policies for the good of all. These policies help society run more smoothly and efficiently. E.G. educational policies are seen as promoting equal opportunity and social integration, while health and housing policies assist the family in performing its functions more effectively.
• Positivism and functionalism:

  For both functionalists and positivists, the sociologist's role is to provide the state with objective, scientific information. By investigating social problems and discovering their causes, sociologists provide the necessary information on which the state can base its policies.
• Positivism and functionalism:


  Sociologist is rather like the medical researcher. Just as medical research discovers the causes of disease as a basis for prevention or cure, so the sociologist's roles to investigate social problems scientifically. This provides the state with objective information about their extent and explanations of their causes as well as possible 'cures' in the shape of policy recommendations.
• Positivism and functionalism:

  Functionalists favour social policies that are sometimes referred to as 'piecemeal social engineering'. In other words, they favour a cautious approach, tackling one specific issue at a time.
• Positivism and functionalism - A03:


  Marxists argue that educational policies aimed at equalising opportunity for children of different classes are often defeated by the influence of poverty in wider society. e.g. social problems such as underachievement are simply aspects of a wider structure of class inequality, and so we need to change the basic structure of society in order to survive these specific problems.
• The social democratic perspective:


  It favours a major redistribution of wealth and income from the rich to the poor.
• The social democratic perspective:

  Townsend: argues that they should be involved in researching social problems and making policy recommendations to eradicate them. E.G. Townsend conducted research on poverty. He made recommendations for policies such as higher benefit levels, and more public spending on health, education and welfare.
• The social democratic perspective:

  Black Report: on class inequalities in health made 37 far-reaching policy recommendations for reducing these deep-rooted inequalities. E.G. free school meals for all children, improved working conditions and spending to improve housing. The labour government had originally commissioned the report in 1977 but it was only completed in 1980, they year after Mrs Thatcher's Conservative government came to power. Her government refused to implement the report's recommendations on grounds of cost, and tried to restrict its publications.
• The social democratic perspective - A03:

  Marxists: agree social problems such as class inequalities in health are deep-rooted, they reject the idea that even policies as far-reaching as those proposed by the Black Report are enough to solve the problem.
• The social democratic perspective - A03:

  Marxists: it is capitalism that is ultimately responsible for these inequalities and so the problem cannot be solved without abolishing capitalism. They also argue that in any event, as the government response to the Black Report showed, the capitalist state is unlikely to introduce costly public spending policies to benefit the w/c. Rational social policies proposed by sociologists (Townsend) will fall on deaf ears as far as policymakers are concerned.
• The social democratic perspective - A03:

  Postmodernists: it is impossible to discover objective truth. All knowledge produced by research is uncertain, and so sociological findings cannot provide a satisfactory basis for policy-making. In this view, sociologists can only take the role of 'interpreters', offering one view of reality among many, and not the role of 'legislators', as modernist sociologists (functionalists and social democrats) have tried to do.