New Right perspective on family and social policy

New Right perspective on family and social policy

1. Social policies should avoid doing anything that undermines the nuclear family

2. Want the nuclear family to be self-reliant

   • Governments often weaken families self-reliance through benefits
   • Council housing
   • Perverse incentives
     • Rewarding irresponsible behaviour
       • Some men don't give money towards children as the state does
       • Council housing encourages unemployment and a blaise attitude
       • Lone parent families give boys no role model, increasing crime rates

3. Nanny-state or dependency culture

4. Argue that policies must be changed with serious cuts to welfare spending and tighter restrictions on those eligible for benefits

   • Cutting benefits would lower taxes and give incentive to work

5. Favour policies that promote nuclear family

   • Marriage tax

6. Critcisms

   • Feminists see them as trying to justify patriarchy and superiority of men
   • Wrongly assumes that patriarchal nuclear family is 'natural' rather than socially constructed
   • Cutting benefits would create greater poverty
     • Further distinguish rich from poor