Families and Social Policy

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Families and Social Policy
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Historically

• Most American families, including middle-class,
  receive substantial government assistance.
• In the Colonial era, little economic assistance
  was provided.
• Family was viewed as little commonwealth
• In the early 1900s, labor unions demanded
  pensions and unemployment compensation.

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Historically (cont.)

• In 1929 - Great Depression
• Need for unemployment assistance
• Roosevelt, who was supportive of government
  intervention, was elected

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Historically (cont.)

• Depression created welfare state to protect
  people from the pitfalls of capitalism - social
  welfare was to help retired workers and widows.
• Social Security Act of 1935 created
• Social Security pension for the elderly
• Unemployment compensation
• Aid to mothers with dependent children

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Historically (cont.)

• Changes in family life such as divorce, single
  parenting without marriage, and women working
  outside the home forced another look at
  government policies.
• Public support rose in the 1980s and 1990s for
  family policy to be an issue.

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Historically (cont.)

• Much debate centered on
• Family Policy Political beliefs about how
  government should assist families caring for
  dependents.
• How to respond to growth of single-parent
  families and childhood poverty
• Reform welfare
• Enforce child support obligation of fathers
• Whether/how to assist parents employed outside
  the home.

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The welfare state

• Capitalist economic system the means of
  production are all or mostly privately-owned and
  operated for profit, and in which investments,
  income, production, and pricing of goods and
  services are determined through the operation of
  a free market (influenced by competition, supply,
  and demand).
• Welfare state Government enacts measures to
  protect workers and families from harsh effects
  of system - basis of current U.S. government
  assistance.

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The rise and fall of the family wage system

• Family wage system Laws that required employers
  to pay male workers enough so they could support
  families with out wives and children having to
  work.
• Husband earns wife tends to house and children.
• Moral vision behind this specifies the family
  works best when men and women inhabit separate
  spheres.

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The rise and fall of the family wage system
(cont.)

• This division of labor supports the welfare
  system.
• Welfare available to women supporting children in
  absence of husband.
• Govt presumed these numbers would be small.
• Social Security Act of 1935 benefits only paid
  to those who earned them by working in the
  labor market (presumed to be men only).
• 1939 amendment Widows could receive benefits
  after husband died.
• 1950s breadwinner-homemaker lifestyle supported
  this type of structure.

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The conservative viewpoint

• The welfare state was created to support the
  breadwinner-homemaker family.
• Women marry men that provide
• Most compensation designed with men in mind
• Income tax also supported this
• Family wage system was the main focus.
• Conservatives might support something that did
  not advocate changing family wage system.

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The liberal viewpoint

• Government should assist all families equally.
• All family forms acceptable.
• No family form should unjustifiably restrict
  womens autonomy.
• Support child care issues.

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Practical compromises

• Family Support Act includes Earned Income Tax
  Credit
• Provides a refundable tax credit to low-income
  families where at least one parent is employed.
• Even if no taxes are due, they will still receive
  a check for the value of the credit if they file
  a return.

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The 1996 Welfare Reform Act

• AFDC and Social Security created as entitlement
  programs
• Entitlement Government is obligated to provide
  benefits to any who who qualifies regardless of
  program cost.
• Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
  Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) and Family
  Support Act of 1998 are examples of the
  reluctance and controversy

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The 1996 Welfare Reform Act (cont.)

• PRWORA Government no longer guaranteed to assist
  every poor, single parent family in need -
  emphasis on temporary assistance and getting a
  job, any job.
• Legislation scrapped AFDC and renamed the
  time-limited cash assistance program Temporary
  Assistance to Needy Families (TANF).

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The 1996 Welfare Reform Act (cont.)

• The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
  Reconciliation Act of 1996 ended entitlements.
• Block grants were given to states to match funds
  and provide for welfare benefits.
• If a state ran out of money, people would wait
  until the next year.
• Maximum of 5 years participation allowed.

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Reasons for the policy reversal

• 1. Attitudes toward womens roles
• Okay for women to work
• Since others were out working, those on welfare
  should be too
• 2. Characteristics of recipients
• Not widowed, but rather single mothers
• Divorced or never married
• Deserving vs. undeserving poor
• Hand-up vs. hand-out
• Racial composition had changed
  overrepresentation of African Americans.

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Reasons for the policy reversal (cont.)

• 3. Concern about dependency
• Poor become too dependent
• Not encouraged to take a job to get out of
  welfare
• Children who grow up in this environment might be
  prone to cycle of dependency

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The effect of welfare reform

• Welfare reform coincided with dramatic declines
  in TANF caseload.
• Declined by 50 between 1996 and 2004
• Period of economic prosperity
• Proportion of single mothers working increased

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Marriage Promotion

• Marriage movement vs. diversity defenders
• In 2006, President Bush signed a bill including a
  program that would provide states with 150
  million per year from 2006 to 2010 to promote
  heterosexual marriage

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Marriage Promotion (cont.)

• Debate is not just about research questions
• Is it better for children to be raised with two
  married parents?
• Can single parents do as good a job if they
  receive more support?
• It also is about political and moral issues
• Autonomy of women
• Authority of men
• Imposition of particular moral view of family on
  those who choose other lifestyles

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Marriage Promotion (cont.)

• Womens lives have changed
• Greater earning power
• Gains in labor market independent income
• Welfare provides income floor
• Social norms
• Birth control pill - sexual activity without
  unwanted pregnancy
• Paths to parenthood and childrearing no longer
  require long-term marriage

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Marriage Promotion (cont.)

• Debate is more over symbolism than statistics
• Does our government make the symbolic statement
  that marriage is to be preferred over other
  family forms? (marriage movement)
• Or, does it make the symbolic statement that
  individuals should be free to choose the form
  they wish? (diversity movement)

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Family Policy in the Early 2000s

• How much assistance should government provide to
• Working parents
• Promote marriage
• Restricting marriage to heterosexuals

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Thinking about social policy

• I want you to work in small groups to propose
  policy solutions to the following current issues
• Social security
• Welfare
• Childcare