Introduction

Introduction

Poor Law
1. Post War
  1. Thatcherism and Third Way
    1. New Labour and New Deal
      1. Many social solutions which implies the problem is social in nature
      2. Rather than lone parenting being the problem there is the attitude that workless lone parents are a social problem and with the right social help, encouragement and advice, alongside financial assistance to show that lone parents working is the best way to get children in lone parent families out of poverty. Also helped to fight child poverty through sure start and national childcare strategy(Smith 2013)
      3. Coalition 2010 onwards
        Modern Media and mass opinions
        SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED PROBLEM
        MORAL PROBLEMS
        Programmes like 'benefits and proud' work to emphasis the dependency and work shyness of people receiving benefits
        sensational articles in tabloids about single parents behaviours/benefit claims
        Young Mum let off community service - Swindon Advertiser 24/10/2013 - About a mum being given a suspended sentence for an assault
        'Meet the Mum who is teaching her girl...6 how to rinse men - The Sun 23/10/2013
        EL of a cheat; Handouts used for Spanish Holiday - The Daily Star 19/10/2013
        Return to the undeserving poor
        Conclusion
        Coalition keen to provide activation to work in order to attempt to reduce the poverty of lone parents. The idea of paid employment being the best way to get lone parents out of poverty through employment is not dissimilar to New Deal
        They believe that children in poverty not only suffer from poverty of resources but also suffer from poverty of opportunity (no access to books or academic encouragement), and poverty of aspiration (working parents). Again this is portraying as the ultimate resolution for poverty is work. The break down of the family is seen as a cause of poverty.(Bamfield, 2012)
        MORAL PROBLEM
        Learn to earn - stopping automatic benefits for under 25's (46% of whom are lone parents) shows a lack of wanting to offer state support for lone parents. ( Grice, 2013)
        Tax break for couples encouraging incentives for the 'social norm' of the nuclear family. (Cameron, 2013)
      4. SOCIAL PROBLEM
        Constructivist
      5. Lone parents were actively encouraged to (re)enter work for the first time since the second world war (Millar, 2010)
    2. 1980's Thatcherism drew on moral authoritarianism and this continued with her sucessor John Major. Benefits and housing policies were designed to deter people from becoming lone parents (Pascall 1997)
    3. MORAL PROBLEM
      1. Constructivist perspective
    4. The belief was that social policy and welfare benefits caused a rise in dependency on the state and that family was primarily where support and welfare should be coming from. (Pascall 1997)
  2. After there was a shift from the idea that mothers should be workers to the idea that mothers should be allowed to be mothers and not actually look for work (Lewis, 1998)
  3. SOCIAL PROBLEM
    1. Realist perception
2. Under 19th Century Poor Law mothers should be considered workers who support their children.
  1. Mothers and their illegitimate children were allowed to be taken away for up to a year by a justice of the peace to improve their moral standing. Lone parenthood therefore was seen as a moral problem not a social problem.
3. MORAL PROBLEM
  1. Realist perspective
What is a lone parent?
What is a social problem?
1. The student's companion to social policy
Constructivism vs realist approach
1. Understanding social problems issues in social policy

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	Created by Sarah Cake about 11 years ago