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sociologist views on social policies - Coggle Diagram
sociologist views on social policies
functionalists
see the state as
acting in interest of society
as whole and social policies are good
policies help families
perform their functions more effectively
making life better for members
roland fletcher
- argues the welfare state supports the family in performing its functions effectively eg the existence of the national health service means the help from doctors/ nurses/ hosiptals and medicine
evaluations
functionalists
assume all members of the family benefit from policies
, whereas
feminists
argue policies often benefit men at the expense of women
assume there is a 'march of progress' with
social policies steadily making the family better
whereas
marxist
argue policies can reserve progress previously made eg cutting welfare benefits to poor families
marxists
do not see
policies benefitting all members of society
they see the state and policies
serving capitalism
eg low level of state pensions are evidence that workers are too old to produce profits they are maintained at the lowest possible cost
do not accept
that there is a 'march of progress' towards ever better welfare policies producing happier families, they agrue improvements for WC families have often only been
won through class struggle
to extract concessions from the
capitalist ruling class
evaluations
functionalists
would disagree that social policy works in the interests of the ruling class, instead they see them benefitting all members of the family
feminists
would argue marxists ignore the detrimental effect of policies on women eg maternity leave policies reinforce patriarchal assumptions that childcare is women's work
feminists
argue that policies
reinforce patriachal ideas
about roles and status of men and women
eg tax/ benefit policies
assume husbands are the main wage-earners and wives are financially dependent
, making it difficult for women to claim benefits
Diana Leonard
- argues that although maternity leave policies benefit women, they also reinforce patriarchy in the family as they encourage the assumption that childcare is a women's job
evaluations
not all policies are
directed at maintaining patriarchy
eg equal pay and sex discrimination laws benefit lone parents, women escaping domestic violence and equal rights to divorce could be said to
challenge
patriarchy
Eileen Drew
- found that in more equal societies family policies is based on belief that husbands and wives should be treated the same - shoes policies depend on the country