Families and Households 1.3- The Family and Social Policy

Governments attempt to influence family structures through social policy

1. The UK government makes laws that are designed to influence family life or structure, these are part of social policy.
2. Social policy covers areas such as divorce, changed to benefit systems, reforms to education, adoption/fostering and employment

Social policy has changed over time:

1. The way the government tackles social policy has changed a lot since WWII
2. In 1945-1979, the states social policy was quite interventionist (economy state owned)
3. Th Welfare State, which was set up by a Labour government in 1948, supported families through benefits, public housing, family allowances and free health care.
4. People paid into a national insurance scheme to pay for the welfare state. It was universal, everyone has the same benefits and services.

1979 Conservative government believed in a Reduced State Intervention

With Margaret Thatcher as their leader, they set about reforming the relationship between society and state:

1. Conservatives were influences by NEW RIGHT ideology. They believed that nuclear families were the cornerstone of society, but also thought that society as a whole should be freed from interference by the state as much as possible. The believed that the UK had become a ‘nanny state’ with too much government control over individuals lives.
2. They set out to make individuals more responsible for their own lives and decisions. The state would intervene less in private matters. So benefits were cut and taxes lowered. Means testing was introduced for some benefits, with the aim of helping those who genuinely need it. (Means testing- only get benefits if your household income is bellow a certain bracket).
3. Mothers are encouraged to stay at home through preferential tax allowance. Families were pushed to take on more responsibilities for elderly through benefit cuts.

*Thatchers ideals echoed MURRAY’s idea of ‘culture of dependency’*

The conservatives legislated to protect people in traditional families

The valued traditional nuclear families, and Thatcher referred to them as the building blocks of society, they were a nursery, hospital, school, leisure place, place of refuge and place of rest.

They created several laws to enforce rights and responsibilities on families:

1. The Child Support Agency 1993, to force absent fathers and mothers to pay a fair amount to the up keeping of their children
2. Children Act 1989, outlined the rights of a child
3. Conservatives also introduced a law to make divorce more difficult, a compulsory cooling off period of 1 year was proposed before a couple could divorce. In the end they abandoned the idea, because they couldn’t find ways for this to work practically.

New Labour promised compromise between the old ideologies

New Labour came into power in 1997, led by Tony Blair.

1. Based their ideology on the ‘Third Way’, a middle ground between left and right wing politics. Their policies were designed to be more pragmatic and less ideological than either the 1979 Conservative government or the previous Labour government
2. In their 1988 consolation paper ‘supporting families’ they made it clear that marriage is their preferred basis for family life
3. However they have shown an awareness of, and concern for, diversity of family life
4. In 2005 they introduced civil partnerships, a union like marriage, that is available for gay couples
5. Introduced laws that any cohabitation couple could adopt children
6. They have adopted New Right Ideas when it comes to family policy, eg/ cutting lone parent family benefits, supported means-tested benefits and are opposed to universal benefits

Feminists believe that social policy is designed to protect the patriarchy

1. Feminists believe that the New Right want to reinforce a sexist and exploitative model of the family by keeping a women in the home and making them the main child support
2. They also think that social policies continue to support a patriarchal society even under New Labour, eg/ the differences in maternity and paternity leave reinforce the idea that the mother is the primary carer and the father is the earner/provider

Marxists argue that social policy is designed to protect capitalism

1. Marxists also oppose the New Right. They argue that reducing benefits to the poor only makes them poorer, and means testing for benefits is degrading for the claimant and like to dissuade worthy applicants
2. They believe that social policies tend to be designed to maintain the capitalist systems. By reinforcing traditional gender roles, social policy moulds women into a reserve army of labour which can be drawn on in times of crisis