Examine the ways in which laws and social policies affect family life.
Examine the ways in which laws and social policies affect family life. (24 marks, 14 AO1, 10 AO2) A social policy is a law implemented by the government to benefit society. These social policies have attempted to promote the nuclear family, such as those introduced by New Labour (although they are more accepting of family diversity than conservatives) and the Conservative government. The Child Support Act supports the conventional family by making the father provide for his children, even when he is absent - thus reinforcing the natural role of the breadwinner. Changes to taxes in 1988 also tried to reinforce the conventional families by not allowing cohabiting couples to claim more tax than married couples, and prevented them from claiming mortgage relief as two people, meaning married people are better off with their taxes. Maternity and paternity leave also reinforce the conventional nuclear family type, as maternity leave is far longer than paternity leave; this assumes that the mother is the primary caretaker of the child (this is not the case in Sweden, where both parents are treated as equal caretakers and income earners). Both New Right and New Labour are in favour of the nuclear family because they view it as the best way for a child to be adequately socialised. The New Right view the division of labour as natural and based on biology; when these roles are
Produce an essay identifying the different sociological approaches to secularisation with reference to Marxism, Webber and Durkheim.
Sociology Secularisation Produce an essay identifying the different sociological approaches to secularisation with reference to Marxism, Webber and Durkheim. In my assignment I will be looking at secularisation and the different sociological explanations and theories, from sociologist such as Marx, Webber, Durkheim and Wilson. I will then look at how these different views compare and differ with one another. It can be seen that an on-going debate by sociologists is the disagreement whether religion encourages or inhibits social change. Most sociologists agree that as society changes and evolves so will changes to religion. However, many have claimed that this change will lead to the disappearance of religion altogether. It has been thought since the early 19th century that industrialization and the growth of scientific knowledge, would lead to the decline of religion, known as secularisation. Emile Durkheim a functionalist did not see religion as hopeless. He looked more at its function within society. He saw religion as maintaining social cohesion, a main part of society where religion brought people together. However, he anticipated that religion was on the decline of social significance. This is because in an industrial society where there was a highly specialised division of labour, religion would lose a part of its power for integrating society (Holborn, 2009). This
Asses the arguments and evidence which suggest women commit much less crime than men
Asses the arguments and evidence which suggest women commit much less crime than men The sociology gender of has mostly been focused on women and femininity, but over the recent years men and masculinity has also been studied. Some sociologists believe that gender can be identified as male and female through their organs that produce sex cells and their hormones, enabling women to bear children but not men. There is also the difference of men being physically strong and women being weak. The biological differences in men and women are determined through their behaviour and their roles played in society. For example, men's role is to go out and provide for the family, they're seen as the 'breadwinners', and men are seen as 'housewives', producing children, cooking and cleaning. This may lead to the large-scale view that women commit less crime than men because women are assumed to not having the time and motive to commit crime and men having both. In this essay views from different writers and sociologists will be discussed on gender and crime. For what reasons are women stereotyped and assumed to commit less crime? Can sociological situations affect the crime committed by gender? If so, how and why? Frances Heidensohn (1985), a famous feminist, believes that women do commit less crime than men. She looked at women and social control, saying that it was difficult for women
Assess the contribution of functionalism to our understanding of society
Assess the contribution of functionalism to our understanding of society Charlotte McCaffrey Functionalism is a consensus theory. It sees society as based on agreement among people about values, goals and rules in society. The job of the family is primary socialization. The family introduces norms and values to children, who carry these on to later years, where they are reinforced by religion and education. These norms and values allow people to move up the social hierarchy. For example, children are taught to conform by the family and education, which allows them to conform to the rules of wider society and become aware of what, is socially acceptable. Education also trains by teaching the skills needed for later life, for example punctuality, and interview skills. Unlike conflict structuralism, functionalists believe that society is based on merit, and those who work the hardest will be the ones to make it to the top, ensuring jobs are filled by those most capable, with the required skills. Those who don't work, will stay at the bottom of the hierarchy, and carry out the more menial, but equally essential jobs. Many of the key ideas of functionalism can be traced back to Emile Durkheim, However it was American sociologist Talcott Parsons, who developed functionalism as a systematic theory of society in the middle of the 20th Century. Functionalism is a macro
Outline and asses sociological explanations for workplace inequalities between men and women
Outline and asses sociological explanations for workplace inequalities between men and women Oakley notes that after the industrial revolution in Britain acts were passed to limit women working; in 1851 one in four married women worked whereas in 1911 one in ten worked. During the Victorian era the ideology that a woman's place was in the home became truly established and industrialisation led to the separation of men from the daily routine of domestic life. Now it is claimed that women suffer from four main inequalities in the workplace. Firstly, there is the much debated pay gap in which, even though legislation to stop unequal pay was introduced in the 1970's, the although narrowing pay gap is still visible between men and women. Secondly half of all females in employment are in part time employment; this form of employment is often less secure with fewer benefits. Thirdly, women suffer from vertical segregation; this is sometimes referred to as "the glass ceiling effect". Women are seemingly unable to achieve the higher ranking positions and are stopped from achieving managerial positions by an invisible barrier. Lastly, women are said to suffer from horizontal segregation which is the idea of gendered jobs. Women are more likely to have certain occupations which often reflect the "expressive" role outlined by Parsons in which women are claimed to be more caring,
Critically examine the Functionalist idea that the nuclear family exists for the benefit of everyone.
Critically examine the Functionalist idea that the nuclear family exists for the benefit of everyone The Functionalist sociologist, Murdock (1949) defined the family as a social group characterised by common residence, economic co-operation and reproduction. He claimed it must include adults of both sexes of whom maintain a socially accepted sexual relationship, and own or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting adults. Murdock's definition is focuses on the Nuclear family stereotypically made up of a two-generation family: heterosexual couple with offspring. This definition of the family is popular among right wing sociologists who believe it is the ideal type of family unit that people should aspire to have. They argue this because they believe the nuclear family is the best type of family for the individual and for society. This is why they encourage it and regard it as the most beneficial family structure. They believe that it is the nuclear family unit by which the process of socialisation is transmitted at it's strongest with the most benefit for society. However, functionalists tend to see the family as harmonious but this is simply not the case in society today. Feminist criticise the functionalist view on the nuclear family by arguing that the nuclear family doesn't suit everyone within the family unit and is more damaging than it is beneficial. Sociologists use the
secondary sources of data
'With the exception of official statistics, most forms of secondary data are too subjective to be useful in sociological research.' Explain and assess this view. [25] Secondary data refers to preexisting data that has been produced by someone other than the sociologist involved in the research. Official statistics include data produced by the government or other agencies e.g. trade unions. Other forms of secondary data include life documents or historical documents such as diaries, letters, and suicide notes etc. They are certain cases when there are no alternatives to secondary data - in the case of 'before' and 'after' studies or studies conducted to analyze trends over a long period of time one cannot go back in time and therefore needs to rely on existing data. Official statistics refers to data collected by the government e.g. statistics relating to unemployment. The fact that statistics are already available to the sociologists means that the sociologist does not have to spend time or money collecting his/her own data. The data allows comparisons to be made, which the researcher would find difficult to collect personally such as in the case of cross cultural studies e.g. comparative study of crime rates in different countries. Positivists favor the use of official statistics, as they are useful for identifying correlations. In Durkheim's study of suicide (1897) he was
Evaluate the Contribution Marxists Have made in Understanding the Role religion plays in Society
Evaluate the Contribution Marxists Have made in Understanding the Role religion plays in Society Marxists claim that religions play a conservative role in society, meaning it promotes a ruling class ideology to keep the working classes in check and maintain the status quo. They see religion as a human made concept, arguing it acts as an 'opiate for the masses' blinding them to the true nature of a capitalist society, 'it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven' - a common nineteenth century notion justifying social inequality by saying existing hierarchy is 'god given' Marx sees religion as a tool for social control, keeping the working classes at bay and working solely in the interest of the ruling classes. These is much evidence to support this, Halevy 1972 commented on how the Methodist religion played an integral role of preventing a working class revolution in the 19 century, encouraging people to seek enlightenment spiritually rather than revolt against the capitalist who were oppressing them, like most other European countries did at some point in history. Marx comments on religion disguising the true nature of exploitation, they see religion as a means to justify economic and social inequality in supernatural terms. Marxist theory on religion, like all sociological theories, can be highly criticized.
Outline and evaluate the functionalist view of the role of the family
Outline and evaluate the functionalist view of the role of the family 24 marks Functionalist sociologists believe that people have a range of basic needs that must be met if society is to run smoothly. Different groups and individuals in society are important because they perform certain functions which meet society's needs. Functionalism supports the family in nearly every way, to the support it offers to the next generation and the way it teaches them the four functions they need to survive. In analysing the family, functionalists concern themselves with two main areas. The functions that the family provides and the relationship between the family and other institutions. They suggest the family provides four main functions that help society and its individual members. Firstly they say the family provides the sexual function, this means married adults enjoy a healthy sex life preventing from social distributions such as rape. Society can run much more smoothly from this as this means less rape crime. Secondly they say the family provide the reproductive function, producing the next generation for society. Society can benefit from this as they can take the next generation and fit them in to the jobs that need filling, without any children society couldn't survive at all. Everyone in society has a role to fulfil. Doing these makes society work effectively meaning a re -
'Assess sociological explanations of changes to the class structure
'Assess sociological explanations of changes to the class structure.' Social classes are groups of people who share a similar economic position; which is based on a person's occupation, income and ownership of wealth. People in the same social class can be identified by having similar levels of education, status (prestige), lifestyle (for example living standard or consumer goods e.g. plasma TV 52' inch) and power. Traditionally the UK's class structure is associated with three-levels: the upper class, the middle class and the working class. However sociologists have noticed a change in this type of class structure and have suggested that the UK is moving away from this class formation. In this essay I am going to outline the traditional class structure (briefly) and talk about the various changes that have occurred to each social class; then I will seek to critically examine a number of sociological explanations for the changes to the class structure. The tri-level traditional class structure is comprised of: the upper class, which is the smallest of the social classes and consists of the crème de la crème of society e.g. Aristocracy or also named the "blue bloods". These members are usually the wealthiest in the UK; who have inherited their money and position. According to Scott (1991) the upper class maintains their "ruling" position through part taking in the Old Boy
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