1. Sociology and social policy
The founding fathers of sociology predicted their new science had the potential to transform
society; today the majority of sociologists have more limited aims; to influence aspects of policy
rather than the whole of society.
As usual sociologists are not united in their attitude to influencing social policy. Some argue any
body that could influence findings should not fund research. They argue that sociology should be an
academic discipline free to explore how and where it wants. Marxists believe that the production of
knowledge in capitalist society will always reflect the power relations in society, in other words ‘he
who pays the piper calls the tune’ and that quangos, government departments and corporations will
not fund research which will ask difficult questions.
This is from the website of the Economic and Social Research Council: ‘The ESRC is the UK's
largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. We
support independent, high quality research which has an impact on business,
the public sector and the third sector. Our total budget for 2012/13 is £205
million. At any one time we support over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate
students in academic institutions and independent research institutes.
We are a non-departmental public body established by Royal Charter in 1965
and receive most of our funding through the Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills (BIS). Our research is vigorous and authoritative, as we
support independent, high-quality, relevant social science.’
What in this statement may lead some to question the independence of the ESRC?
Funding bodies often demand research which will yield quick results, when long term qualitative
work may be more valid.
How does Venkatesh argue this point in ‘Gang Leader for a day’?
Events in society and who is setting the political agenda are often the most important factors that
drive policy changes. Both world wars led to huge changes in the way society was organised. After
the First World War ‘A land fit for heroes’ was promised. During the Second World War The
Beveridge Report was published which laid the foundations for the welfare state.
Why do wars often lead to big questions about the organisation of society being asked?
Poverty
In 1899 SeebohmRowntree investigated poverty in York, inspired by the work of his father Joseph
Rowntree and the work of Charles Booth in London. He carried out a comprehensive survey into
the living conditions of the poor in York during which investigators visited every working class
home. This amounted to the detailed study of 11,560 families or 46,754 individuals. The results of
this study were published in 1901 in his book Poverty, A Study of Town Life.

2. In Rowntree's work, he surveyed rich families in York and drew a poverty line in terms of a
minimum weekly sum of money "necessary to enable families... to secure the necessaries of a
healthy life". The money needed for this subsistence level of existence covered fuel and light, rent,
food, clothing, and household and personal items, adjusted according to family size. He determined
this level using scientific methods which hadn't been applied to the study of poverty before. For
example he consulted leading nutritionists of the period to discover the minimum calorific intake
and nutritional balance necessary before people got ill or lost weight. He then surveyed the prices of
food in York to discover what the cheapest prices in the area for the food needed for this minimum
diet were and used this information to set his poverty line.
He placed those below his poverty line into two groups depending on the reason for their poverty.
Those in primary poverty did not have enough income to meet the expenditure necessary for their
basic needs. Those classed as in secondary poverty had high enough income to meet basic needs but
this money was being spent elsewhere so they were unable to then afford the necessities of life.
According to this measure, 27.84 percent of the total population of York lived below the poverty
line. This result corresponded with that from Charles Booth's study of poverty in London and so
challenged the view, commonly held at the time, that abject poverty was a problem particular to
London and was not widespread in the rest of Britain.It also challenged the dominant view that
poverty was caused by character defects amongst the poor especially fecklessness.
By the late 1960s many believed poverty had been eliminated, but the work of sociologists such as
Townsend revealed that poverty existed but was not as obvious as in the nineteenth century, it also
required a re-definition. Townsend argued that poverty could only be understood in terms of
relative depravation rather destitution or absolute poverty. This redefinition eventually contributed
to policies such as the minimum wage and tax credits.
More recently sociologists, politicians and policy makers have focused on social exclusion; that the
poor are cut out of society by more than just a lack of money. This new focus led the New Labour
government to set up An Action Plan – ' Reaching Out: An Action Plan on Social Exclusion' –
launched in September 2006.
‘The Action Plan sets out a renewed drive to improve the life chances and opportunities for the 2-
3% of the population at highest risk of lifetimes of poverty and exclusion, such as children in care,
teenage parents, and adults and families with multiple problems including severe mental illness’.
Sociology is now increasingly used to assess social policy rather than just promote it. Virtually all
government policy today is evidence based. Evidence-based policy is public policy informed by
rigorously established objective evidence. It is an extension of the idea of evidence-based medicine
to all areas of public policy. An important aspect of evidence-based policy is the use of
scientifically rigorous studies such as randomised controlled trials to identify programmmes and
practices capable of improving policy relevant outcomes.
Although evidence-based policy can be traced as far back as the fourteenth century, it was
popularised by the Blair Government, which said they wanted to end the ideological led-based
decision making for policy making. For example, a UK Government white paper published in 1999
("Modernising Government") noted that Government "must produce policies that really deal with
problems, that are forward-looking and shaped by evidence rather than a response to short-term
pressures; that tackle causes not symptoms". In other words they wanted to use sociology to quality
assure what they were attempting to achieve.

3. However, governments do not always act objectively when social problems arise and policy is
enacted. Issues, which require long-term solutions, are too expensive, may not be popular, or
powerful pressure groups may object to, often remain on the shelf.
Explain how: cheap air travel and environmental issues generally may be excluded from
policy initiatives?
Changing political agendas
Mrs Thatcher was not very popular with sociologists, she famously said; ‘There is no such thing as
society, only individuals and their families’. Her government was however; keen to take advice
from New Right thinkers and think tanks. The New Right believes that welfare creates a
dependency culture. This view was revived by the Cameron led coalition government.
The Blair government however, believed in The Third Way – a path between left wing social
policies and right wing economics – which was primarily the creation of the Prime Minister’s
favourite sociologist Anthony Giddens. He saw the role of government as the creation of policies
designed to prevent social exclusion. Perhaps the most notable product of this was Sure Start.
Sociology has often been responsible for studies that have revealed the true nature of discrimination
suffered by groups this has led to legislation on issues such as disability, sexual discrimination and
race equality. For example, when research was conducted from the 1970s onwards into
homosexual activity, it revealed that homosexuality was far more frequent than previously thought.
This contributed to the gay community having more confidence to demand changes in the law.
Research can also help redefine and then count groups in society, which can lead to changes in
policy. Disabled people used to be officially referred to as cripples, spastics and imbeciles. The
World Health Organisation (WHO) now defines disability as: ‘..an umbrella term , covering
impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions..Thus disability is a complex
phenomena, reflecting an interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society
in which he or she lives.’ In 2011 WHO stated that the disabled population globally was one billion
or 15%, up from 10% in the 1970s.
Why might establishing a definition and counting a group, such as the disabled, lead to new
social policy?

4. An example of sociological research contributing to policy:
REPORT MARCH 2006
Young people, pregnancy and social exclusion:
A systematic synthesis of research evidence to identify effective,
appropriate and promising approaches for prevention and support.
The Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre) is part of the
Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London.
This report presents the findings from a systematic review of the research evidence relating to teenage
pregnancy, parenting and social exclusion. It contributes a new focus to the wealth of existing research
on teenage pregnancy by locating it within the context of social disadvantage and exclusion. The review
systematically examines research relating to policy initiatives aimed at tackling the social exclusion
associated with unintended teenage pregnancy and young parenthood. It concludes that there are
strong grounds for investing in early childhood and youth development programmes as strategies for
reducing unintended teenage pregnancy rates. Happiness, enjoyment of school and ambition can all
help to delay early parenthood. The available research evidence also points both to daycare and to
education and career development programmes as promising ways of supporting young parents.
Holistic support programmes appear to be appropriate but have not yet been shown to be effective.
However, studies of young people’s views suggest many important research gaps. These include the
development and evaluation of policies to promote young people’s involvement in schooling, further
education and training, and to support families experiencing problems linked with social disadvantage
and poverty.
Background
The background to the review is the widespread policy concern with high rates of unintended teenage
pregnancy in the UK, the highest in western Europe. While rates are falling in many European countries,
recent statistics show that the UK Government target of halving teenage conceptions by 2010 is
unlikely to be met. Social disadvantage and teenage pregnancy are strongly related. Young people are
more strongly motivated to defer parenthood in countries where they have a reasonable expectation of
inclusion in the opportunities and advantages of living in an economically advanced society. There are
also more resources and support available in these countries to young people who do become parents.
Teenage parenthood is not in itself a social problem, and some young people make positive choices to
become parents early. The problem, and the focus of this review, is the social disadvantage and
exclusion that in some societies, especially the UK, are linked to young parenthood both as
consequences and as contributing factors.
Research questions
This review seeks to answer two questions:
Young people, pregnancy and social exclusion: A systematic synthesis of research evidence to identify
effective, appropriate and promising approaches for prevention and support. 1
Executive summary• What research has been undertaken that is relevant to informing policy and
practice in the area of young people, pregnancy, parenting and social exclusion?
• What is known about effective, appropriate and promising interventions that target the social exclusion
associated with teenage pregnancy and parenting, which might therefore have a role to play in lowering
rates of unintended teenage pregnancy and supporting teenage parents?
The review was conducted in three parts. First, we searched for and mapped the existing research
literature. Secondly, and thirdly, we conducted two separate reviews of the evidence relating to the
prevention of unintended teenage pregnancy and support for young parents. The focus of these
reviews was on the following areas: housing, childcare, education and training, employment and
careers, and financial circumstances. These in-depth reviews included statistical meta-analyses of the
effects of different approaches on pregnancy rates, young people’s participation in education, training
or employment, and mothers’ emotional wellbeing.
An important feature of the review is that it includes different types of research. Its conclusions are
drawn both from international evaluations of policy and practice interventions, and from the findings of
recent ‘qualitative’ research conducted in the UK examining the views and experiences of young people
themselves.

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Examination question:
Item – one view of the relationship between sociology and social policy is that sociology
investigates social problems, identifies their causes and proposes solutions to them. Government
then translates the work of sociologists into social policies designed to remedy or alleviate the
problem concerned. For example, researchers may discover poverty and inequality are the major
causes of ill health, and the government will then devise appropriate policies to tackle the problem,
for example by redistributing income.
However, others regard this view as naïve and overoptimistic. They argue that politicians normally
take little notice of sociologists and their work, and that their arguments and research findings
generally have little influence of government policies.
Using material from the item and elsewhere, assess the view that sociological arguments and
research findings generally have little influence on the policies of governments. [33 marks]
How to tackle this question:
There are two views amongst sociologists, those who are critical of the close relationship between
researchers and policy makers, and those like Giddens who have promoted evidence based research
to assist government policy making. The critics argue that such research is always constrained by
the funding body. Furthermore, that such research is rarely long-term and that it will not ask
searching questions. The reality is that the government is the largest source of funding for research
in the U.K.
Research can lead to policy changes