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Social policy and the family - Coggle Diagram
Social policy and the family
Social policy - refers to plans and actions of the government agencies, such as health and social services, the welfare benefits system, schools, and other public bodies
Cross cultural family policies
China
One child policy
Removed in 2016
Reduce rapid growth rate
Nazi Germany
Encouraging the 'master race' to reproduce by restricting contraception and abortion
Supported women to adopt the expressive role
State sterilised 375,000 disabled people who were 'unfit to reproduce'
Communist Romania
Introduced policies to drive up the birth rate
Restricted contraception and abortion
Set up infertility treatment centres
Made divorce more difficult
Lowered legal age for marriage to 15
Made unmarried adults and childless couples pay 5% extra income tax
Governments view of the family
Many state policies are formed around a dominant family ideology
Dominant set of beliefs and images about family life, family structures, and relationships which suggests what the perfect or best form of family is
Mostly linked with Functionalist and New Right views of the nuclear family
All major political parties will openly support the traditional family
Often say this is the ideal / best family type for social stability, shelter, security
When this family breaks down, it is blamed for economic failure of individuals / social failure (crime, poverty, welfare dependence, education failure, etc
Barrett and MacIntosh
Dominant family ideology is patriarchal and harmful
Patriarchal - traditional male breadwinner and female subordination, taking away decisions for females
Harmful - for those who don't live in a nuclear family (lone parent divorcees), or who are not heterosexual, they are viewed negatively
Types of family policies
Those aimed at providing direct material support for families (child benefits, tax credits, financial support for nursery care)
Those to help parents balance the demands of paid employment, family life, and support children (maternity and paternity pay, Sure Start)
Conservative
Thatcher: 1979-1990
Ideal family - Section 28 (banning teaching homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle), New Right reflection
Child benefits - paid to mother as it was more likely to be spent on the child
Care in the Community - mothers / women were responsible for the care of elderly family members, taking away chance for mother to be financially independent
1984 Matrimonial & Family Proceedings Act - couples had to wait a year before they could get a divorce
John Major: 1990-1997
Return to core values, accept responsibility for yourself and your family, not shuffling it off on other people and the state
The Child Support Agency - tracked down absent parents to pay support for their children, but stopped in 2006 due to danger to women
1991 Marital Rape Act - illegal for a spouse to rape their wife / husband
Back to Basics Campaign (1993) - lone parent families to reduce reliance on the state
Evaluation (AO3)
Allen - policies discourage cohabitation and lone parent families
Harding - the best council housing is allocated to married couples with children
Reinforces nuclear family as marriage is a priority
Child benefits going to mothers reinforces nurturing role - in 90% of cases, women are awarded custody
New Labour and the Third Way: 1997-2007
The New Deal (1998) - recognised families other than nuclear, so spent money on training programmes for long term unemployed and single mothers
Sure Start (2000)- provided integrated care and services for young children and their families, with a focus on closing the achievement gap for children from disadvantaged backgrounds
Working Family Tax Credit (2003) - money given to low income households, tax free and encouraged individuals to work
Every Child Matters (2004) - after death of Victoria Climbe, every child has the right to happiness, safety, health, and the ability to achieve
Civil Partnerships (2004)- legally recognised as a union, so same sex couples had the same legal right as heterosexual couples
Child Tax Credit (2003) - low income families get childhood supplies tax free, and is paid directly to mother (more likely to spend on children)
National Minimum Wage (1999) - First ever minimum wage, at £3.60 for adults over 22 (currently £11.44)
Adoption and Children Act - homosexual couples were given the same rights as heterosexual couples to adopt
New Labour: 2007-2010
Aimed to increase retirement age by 2020 to 65 years old for both men and women (2007)
Children's Trust Board (2008) - as a result of Baby P, government had increased role in child protection
Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (2008) - absent parents contribute more for their children
Embryology Act (2009) - gave lesbian couples full right over their children born through IVF and embryos
Paid maternity / adoption leave rose from 39 weeks to 52 weeks (2010)
Equality Act (2010) - illegal to discriminate between genders, ages, sexes, religions, ethnicity
Coalition: 2010-2015
'Strong families of all kind are the bedrock of a strong and stable society' - society should be family friendly
Composed of conservatives and lib dems
Coalition ended policies that supported families (Sure Start), and raised tuition fees
Reed predicted that by 2015, measures would result in 120,000 more workless families, 25,000 more with a mother suffering from depression and 40,000 more living in overcrowded or poor quality accommodations
Troubles families programme (2012) - helping 'troubled families' (lone parent families), had 350,105 positive outcomes
Capping child benefits - forced families to share the same budget, with only 2 children
Triple lock pension (2011) - increased state pension every year, guaranteeing older votes
Parenting orders - held parents accountable if their children engaged in anti social behaviour, forced to attend parenting programme
Condry - argues that this is a way that the state ensures control over families
Parental fines for persistent truants - £60 for persistent truanting
Capping charges on residential care - less money into care, so family responsible for their own care
Marriage Tax Allowance (2015) - married couples can share tax allowance, reducing the amount they have to pay (encourages married / nuclear family)
Same Sex Marriage (2013) - same rights as heterosexual couples
Shared Parental Leave (2015) - enhance gender equality, but low take up (between 3% and 4%)
Evaluation (AO3)
Hayten - modernisers and traditionalists split in ideology, and some policies contradict
Some don't work in practice (Marriage Tax Allowance, Shared Parental Leave)
Parenting orders - assumes that parenting is to blame for childhood delinquency, victim blaming
Analysis: Boris Johnson 2015 (AO3)
Children of single mums are producing ignorant, aggressive, illegitimate children
Benefit cuts would deal with issue of rising teen pregnancy
Supporting policies post-Coalition
Domestic Abuse Act (2021) - victims of DV did not have to see abuser in court, and includes financial definition of abuse (due to lockdown, forced living together)
Divorce, Dissolution, and Separation Act (2022) - reduced evidence needed for divorce, processing time went down (as a result of lockdown)
Universal Credit - incorporated all welfare payments into a universal payment, meaning testing to qualify became stricter, affecting W/C lone parent families (£20 weekly reduction)