Impact of social policy on families

Candidates must analyse the relationship between state legislation and family structures, evaluating how social policies construct, reinforce, or challenge specific family forms. The study encompasses the shift from the post-WWII social democratic consensus to New Right neoliberalism and subsequent Third Way/Coalition approaches. Analysis must move beyond description of acts to the ideological drivers behind them (e.g., the 'cereal packet' nuclear family ideal) and their differential impact on class, gender, and ethnicity. Critical engagement with perspectives—Functionalist (march of progress), New Right (dependency culture), Feminist (patriarchal control), and Marxist (ideological state apparatus)—is essential for high-level credit.