Transcript Sociology and Social Policy

Sociology and Social
Policy
www.educationforum.co.uk
What is social policy?
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Changes in the law, initiatives, plans by
central government to tackle social issues
and/or change society in some way
Think synoptically about education, families,
power and politics and Rally robin examples.
Then Stand and Share
Once you have a list in a new pair try and
identify what motivated each social policy
What is the role of the sociologist?
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Should sociologists be separate from social
policy makers – academic and objective?
Should their role be to help policy makers
make policy or should it be to criticise
existing policy and suggest alternatives
Early Sociologists
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The founding fathers believed sociologists had an important
role to play in changing society – functionalists like Comte
and Durkheim saw the role of sociology as preserving social
order.
Alternatively Marx believed the role of the ‘philosopher’ was
to understand the world and to change it – Marx was
politically active in revolutionary politics. Research which
attempts to change or improve society is sometimes called
action research
Which sociological perspectives tend to favour action
research?
Influences on Sociology Today
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Social policy clearly influenced by political ideology e.g.
Labour welfarism in the mid to late 20th heavily influenced by
democratic socialism. Cameron’s recent pledge to ‘strengthen
families’ clearly influenced by a New Right agenda.
Social policy is also influenced by a growth in knowledge
sometimes provided by sociology e.g. Seebohm Rowntree
e.g. attitudes to the causes of poverty dramatically changed
from seeing the poor as lazy and feckless and the main cause
of their own poverty to understanding the structural causes of
poverty – low pay, sickness, education, discrimination
Sociology and New Labour
The influence of sociology over social policy at
its height under Tony Blair whose ‘guru’ was
a leading sociologist Anthony Giddens.
Blair’s ditching of Old Labour (socialism) and
adoption of the ‘Third Way’ was basically
Gidden’s idea
What was the Third Way?
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“The Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy” A
Giddens 1998
Key points
Renew civil society – make citizens active – aware not just
of their rights but also of their duties and responsibilities
Government should promote renewal of civil society
through policy
Government should tackle social exclusion (detachment
from mainstream society by underclass)
Government should introduce better public services (health
and education), fund better benefits, and provide
opportunities to rise out of poverty.
New Labour Policies
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Big push against poverty – minimum wage, working Families Tax credit –
a top up for low paid workers, big rises in Child benefit, the Sure Start
Programme which provided health and support services for low income
families with children under 4
Big push against unemployment – The New deal offered education and
training for young people aged 18-24 – also funded advisors to help
young people assess choices
‘Education, education, education’ massive increase in education spending
‘Building Schools for the Futures’ Also attempt to tackle educational
disadvantage ‘Education Action Zones’ and the Academies Programme
Citizenship – New Labour made the teaching of Citizenship part of the
National Curriculum with an emphasis on rights, duties and
responsibilities
Conclusion
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Whilst sociology can have a big influence on
social policy and social attitudes there are
many other influences
The influence of sociology at its height with
New Labour
What are the main influences on the
Coalitions' social policies?