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Who is Kelvin Fletcher's wife Liz Marsland, do they have kids and what TV shows has she been in?

Who is Kelvin Fletcher’s wife Liz Marsland, do they have kids and what TV shows has she been in?

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KELVIN Fletcher’s wife Elizabeth Marsland supported the former Emmerdale actor during his stint on Strictly Come Dancing.

But she has since unfollowed her husband and his dance partner Oti Mabuse on social media after reports their marriage is on the rocks.

3 Elizabeth Marsland is an English actressCredit: @kelvin_fletcher/ Instagram Who is Elizabeth Marsland?

Elizabeth Marsland is an…

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#Fletchers #Kelvin #kids #Liz #Marsland #shows #wife

Bizarre landscape, could be somewhere on planet Mars.. Iceland, July 2016

#iceland #bizarre land #moon #mars #marsland #island #ísland

Sociology and social policy

The difference between social problems and sociological problems:

Social problems: are in some way harmful to society, Worsley (1978) describes them as something which causes public friction / private misery and needs some collective action to solve it; social policy.

Sociological problems: all social problems are sociological problems, but not the other way around; this deals with theoretical issues that need explaining for explanations sake. For example the huge improvement in girls educational achievement is not a social problem. Sociological problems may not be practical or useful but search for knowledge for knowledges sake. For example, Simmel (1950) looked at universal characteristics of social relationships, in the work place, families or even a bus queue.

However some sociologists are concerned with practical problems and employed by the home office to research and tackle them.

Contribution of sociology on social policy

Sociological research into poverty, health, education and crime has a huge influence on government policy and often government bodies hire sociologists to research these areas for them; for example the Institute of Public Policy Research. There are some factors on whether research effects policy;

Electoral popularity: research findings might highlight areas the electorate like, if the people are behind it and it becomes widely accepted then it could also influence policy; Bowlby's (1965) idea that young children's relationships with their mother is crucial became widely accepted and influenced policy.

Idealogical preferences: if the government and research share the same perspective on research there is a higher chance of success.

Interest groups: pressure groups seek to further own interests through government policy.

Globalisation: International policies (IMF – international monetary fund) structural readjustment programmes have require criteria to be met by developing countries that sociologists have warned against

Critical sociology: Critical perspectives like Marxism are seen as too extreme to influence policy

Cost: Even if the government likes the research findings, but might not have the funds

Funding sources: think tanks which research, can have political perspectives and so politicians are more likely to use the ones that will provide the research they want.

Giddens (2006) 9 ways sociology can 'improve our lives';

Providing an awareness of cultural differences and of others- seeing it from other perspectives

Providing self-awareness and understanding- reflexivity can improve lives, reflecting on domestic violence, or sex discrimination. Social movements for the better emerge.

Challenging assumptions- McNeill (1986) notes that when sociological research is absorbed into common sense it can influence social policy.

Providing a theoretical framework- Townsend's research on poverty provided a framework for poverty, Left and Right realism a framework for crime.

Providing practical, professional knowledge- Sociologists work everywhere not just universities and can provide valued input.

Identifying social problems- Sociologists who are free to explore many areas can highlight wider societal issues that are often ignored in policy, for instance wider issues of gender inequality, influencing the sex discrimination and equal pay acts.

Providing the evidence- sociological research provides evidence naturally and policy makers can draw on this evidence

Identifying the unintended consequences of policies- Sociological research can evaluate policies, and like Merton's latent functions or dysfunctions.

Addressing the results- research can assess whether they have worked.

Perspectives on social policy and sociology

Positivism and Functionalism:

Using the Enlightenment Project to improve society, sociologists could influence social policy by showing objective scientifically collected facts (cause and effect relationships) in society and using social policy to better them. For example, Durkheim's analysis lead him to propose a meritocratic education system and the abolition of inherited wealth, to make society fairer.

Functionalists favour tackling one social problem at a time, this is called the piecemeal approach.

-Marxists criticise this piecemeal approach because it ignores wider social issues that require the basis of society to change rather than individual issue they are targeting. For instance, targeting improving education ignores the wider issues of poverty causing material deprivation.

The Social Democratic Perspective:

This approach wants a major reshuffle of the structure of society, to redistribute wealth from rich to poor. Townsend (1979) argues sociologists should be involved in researching social problems, and making policies to fix them. Townsend researched poverty and influenced welfare policies. The Black Report announced 37 far-reaching recommendations for policy, including free school meals and improved working conditions.

Criticisms:

- Marxism argues this perspective doesn't reach far enough. Capitalism needs to be stopped before these issues can be resolved.

- Post-Modernists as always claim that this is just another version of the truth, sociologists should only take the role of interpreters not law makers.

Marxism:

The main role of sociology should be to criticise the capitalist state not work for it, show the oppression so the WC overthrow it eventually. Policies are created in the interests of the ruling class. Policies like welfare act like capitalists care, when this is just a ruse, they maintain the labour forces health to maintain exploitation. Even if there are some policies in the WC interest, the fact that capitalism often crashes threatens these.

Criticisms:

- The idea of sociologists purpose being to expose oppression is impractical and unrealistic.

- Social democrats criticise how Marxists think research cant bring progress

Feminism:

Because of the patriarchy, polices make assumptions about people in society, for instance family policies affect and benefit heterosexual married families, they don't benefit those who cohabit. Feminist sociology has brought much to education in the form of learning materials (positively towards women) and teacher training (teachers should avoid gender bias and be inclusive). Liberal feminists believe that anti-discrimination policies will liberate women. Radical feminists ideas of separatism also effect policy, for instance bringing in the Women's Aid Federation to support domestic violence victims and separate them from men.

- Marxists say this is still not far enough.

The New Right:

They want little state intervention into peoples lives because it removes freedom to choose and undermines social responsibility. Charles Murray (1984) argues that generous welfare act as perverse incentives to weaken self-reliance. Sociologists are there to propose alternative policies to current ones to improve individual responsibility. For example Breakdown Britain a conservative report by Social Justice Policy Group (2007) proposed a list of new policies to promote marriage, parenting classes and mothers staying at home.

The role of New Right thinking- New right has influenced by Conservatives and New Labour's policies about children and marriage. New Right support Right Realist approaches like Wilson and Kelling's Broken Window thesis.

Criticisms:

- Validity of research from Charles Murray about link between absent fathers and delinquency has been questioned

- New Right policies hardly use real sociological research, instead favouring politically sympathetic think tanks.

Should Sociologists be involved in social policy research?

There are a range of factors influencing how social policies are formulated, most relate to how they will only be created in the interests of the powerful. For instance, The Black Report was criticised by the Margaret Thatcher government because it contradicted what they wanted and so at the time it did not get the public approval, but by 1990's the labour government liked similar research and it influenced health policies.

McNeill (1986) argues what becomes a social problem is decided by what gets the most support. He argues that most sociological research is ignored by governments because they focus on inequalities and this highlights uncomfortable truths.

Marsland (1994) argues that systematically empirical sociological research is necessary, important and plays a constructive role in policy. He argues that policy makers ignore sociological research and sociological researchers lack commitment to the cause. He argues it would be better for society if sociologists got involved in evidence based policy making.

If sociologists strive to influence social policy it could change sociology to be just an extension of politics.