New Right view of the family
Believe that the nuclear family is the ‘correct’ family type due to biological differences between men and women.
Ideally, women should stay at home with the children whilst men work.
Lone-parent families cause deviance in children.
The welfare state has led to a ‘Nanny state’, dependency culture and offers ‘perverse incentives’ which encourage lone-parent families.
The New Right encouraged the Conservative government to launch the ‘Back to Basics’ campaign which encourage traditional family values.
Statistics to support the superiority of the nuclear family (these can also be used as AO3):
Children from ‘broken homes’ are 9x more likely to become young offenders.
These children are also 5x more likely to develop emotional problems.
Young people with separated parents are 3x more likely to show aggressive behaviours.
Lone-parent families are more than 2x likely to live in poverty than families with 2 parents.
Family breakdown in married couples is 6% compared to 20% in unmarried couples.
Most lone-parents aren't ‘scroungers’ and work hard to support their family.
It exaggerates the decline of the nuclear family.
Chester - The neo-conventional family:
People don’t choose to live in alternate family structures for long periods of time.
Cohabiting is a temporary phase before marrying.
Most people still strive to have a nuclear family.
Chester - Most children spend most of their lives in a nuclear family.
Many fathers fail to pay maintenance so the welfare state isn’t that generous.
Easier access to divorce is good because it allows for women to leave unhappy or abusive relationships.
The differences between men and women are socially constructed and are not biological as the New Right suggest.
The nuclear family oppresses women.
Marxists - The nuclear family is used to oppress the proletariat.
Functionalists will support this.
