Sociology and Social Policy

According to Worsely, 'a social problem is some piece of social behaviour that causes public friction and/or private misery and calls for collective action to solve it'. eg. poverty, educational under-achievement, juvenile delinquency and divorce.

According to Worsley, a sociological problem is 'any pattern of relationships that calls for explanation'. In other words, it is any piece of behaviour that we wish to make sense of.

Sociological problems may be something that society regards as a social problem, eg. why some peoplre are poor or fail in school. But it can also include behaviour that society doesn't normally regard as a problem - eg. why people are prosperous or law-abiding - 'from the point of view of the State or the neighbours, quiet families are not problem families. Sociologically speaking, they are.' (Worsley).

'Normal' behaviour is just as interesting to sociologists as behaviour that people see as a social problem. In fact, many sociologists show little or no interest in studying or solving practical social problems. These sociologists would regard their goal as simply being able to discover knowledge for its own sake.

Those who feel strongly about poverty, eg., who conduct research to create solutions.
Many sociologsts are employed directly by the government departments such as the Home Office. These often have a direct input into making policies and evaluating their effectiveness, eg. in reducing crime.

- Electoral popularity (if research points to a policy that would be unpopular with voters)

-Ideological and policy preferences of governments (if sociologist's value stance similar to governments, probably more chance of influencing their policy)

-Interest groups (pressure groups that seek to influence government policies in their own interests, eg. business groups persuading not to raise minimum wage even if it will stop policy)

-Globalisation (international orgs. may influence policies of individual governments)

-Critical sociology (those critical of the state and powerful groups may be regarded as too extreme, hostile or impractical to influence)

- Cost (may not have sufficient funds to implement a policy in response to research)

-Funding sources (may tone down findings to fit in with their paymasters' wishes)

Early positivists, whose approach was part of the Enlightenment prohect, aimed to use science and reason to improve society. eg. Durkheim's analysis led to him proposing a meritocratic education system.

Functionalists see society as based on value consensus and free from fundamnetal conflicts. Like positivists, they see the state as serving the interests of society as a whole, producing and implementing rational social policies for the good of all. These policies help society run more smoothly and efficiently, eg. educational policies seen as promoting equal opportunity.

The sociologists' role is to provide the state with objective, scientific information. By investigating social problems and discovering their causes, sociologists provide the necessary information on which the state can base its policies.

In their view, the sociologst is rather like the medical researcher. Just as medical research discovers the causes of disease as a basis for prevention or cure, so the sociologist's role is to investigate social problems scientifically. This provides the state with objective information about their extent and explanations of their causes as well as possible 'cures' in the shape of policy recommendations.

Functionalists favour social policies that are sometimes referred to as 'piecemeal social engineering'. In other words, they favour a cautious approach, tackling one speicifc issue at a time.

Marxists argue that educational policies aimed at equalising opprtunity for children of different classes are often defeated by the influence of poverty in wider society. ie. social problems such as under-achievement are simply aspects of a wider structure of class inequality, and so we need to change the basic structure of society in order to solve these specific problems.

It shares the view of Marxists that the basic structure of society needs to be changed in order to solve specific problems. It favours a major redistribution of wealth and income from the rich to the poor.

Townsend argues that sociologists should be involved in researching social problems and making policy recommendations to eradicate them. eg. Townsend conducted extensive research on poverty. On the basis of his findings, he made recommendations for policies such as fairer, higher benefit levels and more publiv spending on health, education and welfare services.

The Black Report (1980) on class inequalities in health made no fewer than 37 far-reaching policy recommendations for reducing deep-rooted inequalities. eg. free school meals for all chilcren and more spending to improve housing.