In a state, there are laws that govern the people in order to keep them under control, protected and for the benefit of the economy. Sociology has influenced many theories that emphasize the nature and role of the state differently. In order to perform such roles, the state needs to use social policies that members of society can relate too. Worsley notes that a social problem is a piece of social behaviour that causes public friction. Thus social policies are there to prevent that behaviour from causing public friction and private memory. It also calls for collective action to solve these societal problems.
Positivism and Functionalism (DURKHIEM)
Functionalists like Durkheim argue that sociology will strive to fix problems through scientific solutions. The state is there for the interests of the whole and the policies should help run society more smooth and efficiently. It’s a sociologist’s job to find data to enable these interventions which will help to keep society stable.
However functionalist views towards social policy could be criticized for being too deterministic by postmodernists. Critical theories like Marxism also argue against it as it doesn’t point out how the state uses policies to keep the R/C in power and the W/C exploited.
· Bowlby- The functionalist elaborates the advantage of sociologists for having direct influences on policy making. John Bowlby’s idea was that young people’s relationships with their mothers was crucial to their development and had become widely accepted by many people in society. When this occurs, it influences the climate of opinion in favour of policies that reflect socially derived ideas.
-NHS Policies
-Working Tax Allowance
Social Democratic Perspective (TOWNSEND)
A theory that believes the redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor through social policies run by the state will serve to benefit and keep society stabilized.
Sociologists adopting this perspective such as Peter Townsend argue that sociologists should be involved in researching the social problems in society. Townsend did studies on poverty making recommendations for policies that supported higher benefit levels, increased spending on education and welfare services.
The government also reacted to this through the Black Report which set out to improve standards that effected class inequalities. Free school meals were provided for all children, improved working conditions and better benefits for the disabled and more spending to improve housing quality.
-Free School Meal Policies
-Health and Safety Regulation's Policies
-Student Grants
Marxism
A theory that sees society as divided into 2 classes, the capitalist class and the working class. Also taking a structural approach, Marxists views criticize functionalist views that state policies are for the benefit of society and used to better it. Rather Marxists believe the structure of society and the way the state uses laws is for serving the interests of the capitalist class and to keep the W/C exploited. They way this is done can be divided into 3 main categories:
· They provide ideological legitimisation; this keeps the W/C in a false class conscious state of mind allowing them to be exploited.
· They maintain the labour force for further exploitation. For example, the NHS serves capitalism by keeping workers fit enough to work. Educational system without proceeding to university provides the basic knowledge in our technologically advanced society.
· The policies are a means of preventing revolution. When class conflict intensifies and threatens the stability of capitalism they are used as a way to buy off the W/C. For instance, this occurred when the welfare state was created after the Second World War to buy off the opposition to capitalism.
Marxists recognise that social policies sometimes provide real if limited benefits to the W/C. However, such gains are constantly threatened with reversal by capitalist tendencies to go into a periodic crisis of profitability leading to cuts in welfare spending. Thus, Marxists realise that policies used within a capitalism system will never solve problems such as class inequality.
However this conflict and macro approach can be criticized for being deterministic. The role of sociologists is impractical and unrealistic. Social democrats criticize them for rejecting the idea that the policies can help bring out benefits to all members of society. For example poverty researchers have at times brought out a positive impact on state policies.
-Student Loans
-Cut's in EMA
Feminism
A theory that believes society is patriarchal, unequal and subordinating towards women. It argues that state policies are based around the assumptions of patriarchy. Feminists like Hilary Land argue that such policies encourage women to conform to certain roles that are deemed feminine or nurturing rather than aim for career success. For example state policies assume the neo conventional family must be nuclear. This is why it offers benefits to married couples but not cohabiting ones. The research feminists have performed has had an impact in a number of policy areas.
· Liberal feminists support that in education for instance it has influenced learning materials promoting more positive images of women and teacher training to sensitise teachers from being gender bias.
· Impact of equal opportunities legislations largely due to feminist movement throughout wider society.
· Radical Feminists would argue that policies have led to establishment of women’s refugees.
(Sex Discrimination Act) (Equal Opportunities Policies)
New Right Perspective (MURRAY)
A theory that believes the state should have minimal involvement in society which opposes using welfare solutions to social problems. This is because society has become too dependent on the state and there is now a dependency culture. Charles Murray a key New Right thinker illustrates how benefits from the state offer perverse incentives for lone parents that create this dependency culture. This leads to the creation of an underclass. The state policies should be there to restore an individual’s responsibility for their own family’s welfare. Thus, it is for helping people to help themselves. This had had a major influence on the conservative and New Labour government parties.
However, such views can be criticized for being too harsh. Not everyone can help themselves and need benefits to survive in a society that is capitalist. This applies to lone parents who can’t find employment to meet the schedule of looking after their offspring or the sick and disabled. The perspective is seen to be biased produced by political thinkers rather than independent sociological research. Social Democrats would argue that this allows the rich to keep all the wealth in society and the poor to suffer and continue suffering because it makes social mobility much more difficult.
-Jobseekers Allowance Policy
-Marketisation Policies and influence of Academies
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