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Topic 7 Family policy- New right - Coggle Diagram
Topic 7 Family policy- New right
Concept
Sees the family as naturally self radiant and capable of caring and providing for all members the changes such as increase in divorce are threatening the conventional family and producing social problems
Almond: laws making divorce easier undermine the idea of marriage as a life long commitment between man and women
Murray: providing generous welfare benefits undermines the nuclear family and encourage deviant types that harm society. They offer perverse incentives meaning they reward irresponsible behaviour
Solution
Policy must be changed with cuts in welfare spending and tighter restrictions on who is eligible for benefits this means that taxes decrease and men can provide for their family
Evaluation
Feminists argue that its an attempt to justify a return to the patriarchal nuclear family that subordinated women and confined them to domestic roles
Conservative government 1979-1997
Banned the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities including a ban on teaching that homosexuality is acceptable
Defined divorce as a problem and emphasised the continued responsibility of parents after divorce. Set up a child support agency to enforce maintenance payments by absent parent
Introduced measures opposed by the new right such as making divorce easier and given children outside of marriage the same rights as those born to married parents
New Labour Governments 1997- 2010
Took the view that the family is the bedrock of society and saw families headed by married couples are best for bringing up children
Emphasised the need for parents to take responsibility for children eg parenting orders for parents of young offenders
Silva and Smart: new labour reject the new right view that the family should be male earner and recognises women also work these include working families tax credit enabling parents to claim some tax relief on childcare costs
New labour support alternatives to heterosexual couples and include policies like civil partnership for same sex couples and giving unmarried couples the right to adopt
Conservative government from 2010
Long been divided between what Hayton calls modernists who recognises that families are more diverse and willing to reflect in policies. And the traditionalists who favour new rich policies and reject diversity
Division means hard to maintain a constant policy line on the family eg introduction of same sex marriage which was opposed by the new right
Critics argue that financial austerity policies reflects the new right desire to cut welfare spending. The conservatives failed to introduce policies to promote the nuclear family eg Browne: 2 parent families were penalised by tax and benefit policies