Sociology & social policy

The influence of sociology on policy

Social problem - Worsley; some piece of social behaviour that causes public friction and/or private misery & calls for collective action to solve it, e.g, poverty.
Sociological problem - Worsley; any pattern of relationships that calls for an explanations, e.g, why are some people poor?
Factors affecting whether or not sociological research succeeds in influencing policy -
Electoral popularity, ideological & policy preferences of governments, interest (pressure) groups, globalisation & critical sociology (marxism, may be unlikely to influence social policy), cost & funding sources (toning down research or recommmendations to fit paymasters' wishes).
For example; Bowlby's research found that young children's relationships with their mothers are crucial for normal development, it then became widely accepted & affected the political or social climate in favour of these ideas.
The power to define the problem - Ultimately the descision to ammend or pass social policy falls to those in power. They are able to define what is & what is not a problem, & whether anything should be done about it.

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Positivim & functionalism - Providing the state with objective, scientific information, by investigating social problems & discovering their causes, will create a basis for policies.
Criticism - Marxism; educational policies aimed at equalising opportunity in the classes is defeated by the influence of poverty in wider society.
Social democractic - They favour a major redistribution of wealth & income from the rich to the poor. Townsend; research on poverty, he made recommdenations for policies such as; higher benefit levels, & more public spending on health, education & welfare.
The Black Report (1980); made 37 far-reaching policy recommendations - free school meals, improved working conditions & more spending to improve housing etc...
Criticisms - Marxism; abolishing capitalism is the only solution, sociologists advice will fall on deaf ears, e.g, the Black Report was ignored by Thatcher's Conservative government.
Postmodernists; sociologists cannot influence policy because all knowledge produced in the research is uncertain, they only take the role of 'interpreters', offering one view of reality.
Marxism - Social policy aims to give capitalism a 'human face' (welfare state), whilst maintaining the labour force for further exploitation (NHS) & preventing revolution.
Often policies do benefit the poor to some extent, but are easily overturned for profits sake.
Criticism - Social democractic; research can bring about progressive policies.

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Feminism - The state perpetuates women's subordination through its social policies, e.g, the state assumes that families are typically conventional & offers benefits to them, not other family types. Thus, creating a SFP where people will go into nuclear families, making it difficult for people to live in other kinds of family.
Liberal feminist believe that anti-discrimination reforms will bring about gender equality, e.g, learning materials that promote more positive images of females.
Radical & Marxist feminists however, call for more far-reaching changes, that the existing state cannot deliver.
The New Right - The state should have minimal involvement in people's lives. Murray; generous welfare benefits act as 'perverse incentives' that weaken the family's self-reliance, encouraging dependency culture.
Breakdown Britain - The Social Justice Policy Group; the report proposed a social policies, such as; marriage preparation, parenting classes & support from the tax & benefit system for mothers who stay at home. Serving to encourage people to help themselves.
New Right thinking has greatly influenced the Conservative party & some New Labour policies, e.g, marriage as the best place to raise children, also influences zero tolerance.
Criticisms - The validity of Murray's data about absent fathers & delinquency has been challenged.

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