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Social constructivism ir essay
Strengths and weaknesses of social constructionism theory
Strengths and weaknesses of social constructionism theory
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In order to relate the Social Construction Theory (SCT) and Policy Feedback Theory (PFT) to the Campbell, Skocpol, and Soss and Schram articles, it is important to first understand each theory in broader terms. The SCT focuses on the patterns of policy change by explaining that policy is passed to either benefit deserving people or punish undeserving or dangerous people. It explains four social constructions and the way they receive benefits or punishments. The more respected and deserving a social group is, the more likely they are to receive benefits. And the more dangerous or undeserving a social group is, the more likely they are to receive punishments. The PFT seeks to explain the way in which enacted policy indirectly affects subsequent political processes and future policies by directly affecting the political agenda, power of groups, form of governance, and the meaning of …show more content…
Around the 1900s, European countries began offering nationwide, comprehensive benefits to the working class, which was made of men. They offered benefits to workers to incentivize citizens to join the labor force, which would give a great boost to the country’s economy. However, America began offering benefits to veterans and women, so much so that women received more benefits than men. This phenomenon directly contradicts an important statement made by the SCT. The SCT claims that dependents (such as women at that time) receive more rhetoric than actual benefits while the advantaged (such as working men) are the most benefitted group from policy. Women were dependents because they were looked favorably upon, but they lacked political power because they could not vote. If this were true, it would be impossible that women receive more benefits than men at this time. Skocpol’s article also discusses feedback effects from the
After World War I America became the world’s center for trade. The economic center of the world moved from London, England to New York City, New York, United States of America, and more specifically Wall Street (Buhle, Mari J, Czitzrom, Armitage 848). Due to women, the 1920’s marked economic and social change in America. Women took over men’s jobs during the war while their husbands were overseas, and once the men came home the women wanted to keep their positions. To show gratitude to these women Congress passed the 19th Amendment on August 18th, 1920 which prohibited any United States citizen from having the right to vote based on sex. This change in women’s social status led to more workers in the factories, which were usi...
The 1940s provided a drastic change in women’s employment rates and society's view of women. With the end of the Depression and the United States’ entrance into World War II, the number of jobs available to women significantly increased. As men were being drafted into military service, the United States needed more workers to fill the jobs left vacant by men going to war. Women entered the workforce during World War II due to the economic need of the country. The use of Patriotic rhetoric in government propaganda initiated and encouraged women to change their role in society. Yet, at the end of the war, the same ideas that encouraged women to accept new roles had an averse affect on women, encouraging them to leave the workforce. The patriotism promoted by propaganda in the 1940s, encouraged Americans to support the war effort and reinforced the existing patriarchal society. Propaganda's use of patriotism not only increased loyalty to America during the war, but also, increased loyalty to the traditional American patriarchal values held in society.
Although women had unequal pay, and and there were many reasons behind World War II not serving as a significant role in the change of women’s rights, the ideas that were mentioned previously are
In the book politics of power, Katznelson supports how welfare has shifted in the 1960’s where more families needed income assistance it grew about 10% per year. Welfare changed because more women and African Americans were in need of public assistance. This is what strained the US Welfare state because of job discrimination towards women and the restrain against black mobility. Women are having illeg...
Throughout this assignment a variety of terminology will be used, first it is appropriate to define what the term ‘Social Policy’ means. Social policy can be defined in different ways and ‘there is no established or agreed definition of social policy’ (Baldock et, al., 1999:21). From reading different books on social policy, the author’s understanding of social policy is it provides guidelines to deal with social problems . Social problems are matters which direct...
Society has long since considered women the lessor gender and one of the most highly debated topics in society through the years has been that of women’s equality. The debates began over the meaning between a man and woman’s morality and a woman’s rights and obligations in society. After the 19th Amendment was sanctioned around 1920, the ball started rolling on women’s suffrage. Modern times have brought about the union of these causes, but due to the differences between the genetic makeup and socio demographics, the battle over women’s equality issue still continues to exist. While men have always held the covenant role of the dominant sex, it was only since the end of the 19th century that the movement for women’s equality and the entitlement of women have become more prevalent. “The general consensus at the time was that men were more capable of dealing with the competitive work world they now found themselves thrust into. Women, it was assumed, were unable to handle the pressures outside of the home. They couldn’t vote, were discourages from working, and were excluded from politics. Their duty to society was raising moral children, passing on the values that were unjustly thrust upon them as society began to modernize” (America’s Job Exchange, 2013). Although there have been many improvements in the changes of women’s equality towards the lives of women’s freedom and rights in society, some liberals believe that women have a journey to go before they receive total equality. After WWII, women continued to progress in there crusade towards receiving equality in many areas such as pay and education, discrimination in employment, reproductive rights and later was followed by not only white women but women from other nationalities ...
As late as 1962, a survey done by the University of Michigan found that two-thirds of women believed that decisions that were important to the family should be decided by the man of the house (Coontz 2013). Thus, most Americans didn 't believe that gender equality was necessary or good, and most of the information they learned had stated that women couldn 't pursue careers and be a proper mother. (Coontz 2013). Feminists and women 's right 's activists began the task of challenging women to question the assumption that all women are to be used for is to watch children, maintain the house, and make the food. It was a slow, but steady progress, with two-thirds of Americans believe that it was better for men to be the breadwinners and women to be the bread makers in 1977, but only one-third of Americans believing this was the case in 1994 (Coontz 2013). In the 1970s and onward, there was a shift in American 's beliefs in the qualifications of women in the workforce and in the political atmosphere. For example, Myra Marx Feree found that, in the 1970s, the amount of Americans who would vote for a well-qualified woman for president increased only with the continuation of the women 's movement and protests of the time (Cotter 2011). A trend was noticed, however, that the progress
For several decades, most American women occupied a supportive, home oriented role within society, outside of the workplace. However, as the mid-twentieth century approached a gender role paradigm occurred. The sequence of the departure of men for war, the need to fill employment for a growing economy, a handful of critical legal cases, the Black Civil Rights movement seen and heard around the nation, all greatly influenced and demanded social change for human and women’s rights. This momentous period began a social movement known as feminism and introduced a coin phrase known in and outside of the workplace as the “wage-gap.”
The lives of all individuals are impacted by social policies that have been created and written in the past and this impact will continue as historical social policies are updated and with each future social policies that is created and written. The impact of social policy is significant because, “Although social policy may address individual needs, it also typically benefits the host society” (Chapin, 2014, p.2). In other words, each social policy does not directly impact each individual in society, but overall social policies impact the entire society in some form or another. “Social policies are the rules, laws, and regulations that govern the benefits and services provided by the government and private organizations to assist people in
In order to mobilize women into the work force, the party-state provided numerous social programs--free day care, subsidized school supplies and clothing, guaranteed maternity leave, and nearly full employment. Women, however, were hardly emancipated through these programs. They were concentrated, with a few notable exceptions, in a "pink collar ghetto" of low wage and low prestige jobs and often given employment well below their educational qualifications. Moreover, the "emancipation" accorded them by state officials resulted in an extreme "double burden" (Basu, 1995; Bystydzienski, 1992; Corrin, 1992; Einhorn, 1993; Millarand and Wolchik, 1994; Nelson and Chowdhury, 1994; Rueschemeyer, 1994). They were expected to perform both paid and domestic labor, fulfilling most (or all) of the household and parenting duties without modern conveniences. These superwomen worked full-time jobs and then came home to prepare meals and clean...
Before the 1890s, females had no other options but to live with their parents before marriage and with their husband after marriage. They couldn’t work and if they did their wage was way lower than men. Today many women chose their own lifestyle and have more freedom. They can chose if they want to get married and have kids or not. Coontz said “what 's new is not that women make half their families living but that for the first time they have substantial control over their own income, along with the social freedom to remain single or to leave an unsatisfactory marriage” (98). When women couldn’t work, they had no options but to stay with their husband for financial support. Working is a new way of freedom because they can choose to stay or leave their husband and make their own decisions. It’s not like women couldn’t work before, they could but they didn’t have too much social freedom like to get divorce or not have children. Their voice wasn’t as important as men. Most of the time men had to decide everything in the family and had control over the family. Coontz believe that today women have more control over their own life and they can choose however they want to live their life. Kuttner also agree that “most Americans, after all, believe women should not be consigned to the nursery and the kitchen” (122). Women used to be the mother who
Ever since the women’s suffrage movement of the 1920s, there has been a push for eliminating sexism and providing equality between men and women, especially in the workplace. The United States, along with most of the world, has made great strides in gender equality since then. Women can vote, and have careers, and men are able to stay home with the children if they choose to. But are the sexes really equal now? There are three common answers to this question. Some say yes, while the most common answer is no. The debate does not end there, however. It is typically assumed gender inequality is oppressing women and limiting their rights. Regardless, there are those who say the system is harming men instead. So, if gender inequality still exists,
Jansson defines social policies as “collective strategies to prevent and address social problems.” They are “collective” because they are binding on those populations, communities, companies, and jurisdictions to which they apply (Jansson, 2016, p. 22). For example, the United States government have created policies to address the needs of a variety of social issues such as food and nutrition, assistance for needy families, housing assistance, health, unemployment benefits, equal opportunity, anti-discrimination laws, child welfare, and mental illness (Marx, n.d.). These social policies help promote the disadvantage, advance social change, ensure social protection from discrimination, and improve well-being of vulnerable individuals, families and children. Jansson (2016) noted “the policies are vertically distributed at the federal, state, and local government; community; and agency or organizational levels” (Jansson, 2016, p. 24).
Specifically, females’ tendency to embark upon part-time instead of full-time occupations and their ability to discontinue work have provided them with lesser privileges—decreased pension rights, lower individual assets, and reduced long-term incomes.... ... middle of paper ... ... Typifying the roles of men and women in the labor force due to family concerns and women’s biological purpose has provided men with a source of comparative advantage in work.
Women’s subordination within the labour market is seen by Marxist feminists as suiting the needs of capitalism as women are considered a ‘reserve army of labour’ as they are a more disposable part of the workforce. According to Beechey (1986) women are a cheap ‘reserve army of labour’ that are brought in during economic booms but then thrown out during slumps. Women are often not members of trade unions and are prepared to work for less money as their wage could be a second income. This benefits capitalism as a group of unemployed people looking for work creates competition and exploitation. Employers are given an advantage which allows them to reduce wages and increase the rate of exploitation. Benston (1972) supports this as women are used to benefitting the operation of the capitalist economy by carrying out unprepared work in the home. This proves that patriarchy dominates women which leads to women’s subordination. Hartmann (1981) believes that patriarchy and the economy both play a crucial role in explaining and understanding gender inequality. Historically, men have controlled women especially by control of labour power. This can come through legislation that operates economically to the benefit of men, for example Maternity and Paternity Rights. This proves that patriarchy and economics together explains gender inequality. However, Walby (1986) argues that women staying at home can actually harm capitalism because if women were to compete for jobs with men this would lower wages and increase profits. Women who earn also have superior spending power which would boost the economy and benefit