Social Policy Constructs Lives: Mutual Constitution - Literature review Example

SOCIAL POLICY CONSTRUCTS LIVES: MUTUAL CONSTITUTION Social Policy Constructs Lives: Mutual Constitution Discuss the ContentionThat Social Policy Constructs Lives, Exploring the Mutual Constitution The application of the mutual constitution in defining social policy relies on normative assumptions that relate to generally accepted or normal standards of doing things. These aspects help in explaining the contention that social policy constructs lives. In discussing this contention, I will focus on the topic of gender and relate it to mutual constitution and normative assumptions. Worth noting is the fact that the mutual constitution of `the personal and social policy have been in application since the nineteenth century where it has developed powerful connections between `the personal and social policy (Fink et al. 2009, p. 11). Ideally, social policy refers to two distinct objects that include a collection of government policies designed for enhancing social ends or objectives (Fink et al. 2009, p. 19). As such, social policy seeks to improve the well-being or welfare of individuals and the community at large (Fink et al. 2009, p. 19). However, it is quite clear that to analyze the mutual constitution of social policy and personal lives, there is need for detailed evidence that defines the experiences, relationships, and emotions of individuals with an aim of discussing the contention that social policy constructs lives (Fink et al. 2009, p. 15). I will rely on relevant literature, my personal narratives, and the course companion to derive evidence to analyze the mutual constitution of social policy and personal lives. As such, I conducted a 30-minute research interview to help me provide some qualitative data, on depression and anxiety attacks, about the connection between personal lives and social policy (Campbell 2014). My interviewee was a young woman with a health related problem concerning depression and anxiety attacks, which I thought was her personal experience that required social policy intervention (Campbell 2014). Moreover, the research analyzed how the depression and anxiety attacks affected her life particularly in relation to the care of her young family (Campbell 2014). Similarly, the study investigated about the most dominant periods of her life that exhibited depression and anxiety attacks as well as when the interviewee received social intervention for her to start overcoming the depression and anxiety attacks (Campbell 2014). Furthermore, an exploration on the effects that changing practices in her place of work had on her mental health was very fundamental. An investigation on the challenges of trying to juggle home life and returning to work after maternity leave was also fundamental. Ultimately, I investigated the support she received while she was trying to overcome barriers and restore a better mental health as well as how the community treated her during this period (Campbell 2014). As a reflexive researcher, I have developed considerable skills that will help me to explore the mutual constitution of social policy and personal lives. Indeed, in my 30-minute interview on a young woman with a health related problem that required social policy intervention, I manifested such skills (Campbell 2014). I researched on my interviewee to establish that she was relevant for the study. I also used a friendly person who was comfortable and willing to discuss her plight. I knew the interviewee and I was comfortable to ask her personal and sensitive questions where I assumed the position of an interested listener (Campbell 2014). I considered the ethical issues and the implications of my research like the relationship with her husband and other family members, her self-esteem, and her dependency on others (Campbell 2014). I ensured that the interviewee signed a voluntary participation and informed consent to confirm that she was fully aware of the nature of the interview. Honesty and confidentiality were also fundamental aspects of my research (Campbell 2014). It is clear from previous literature and my research that the study on the relationship between personal lives and social policy and the everyday practices, concepts and theoretical perspectives was significant in exploring the relationship between social policy, personal experiences, and mutual constitution (Fink et al. 2009, p. 19). Most specifically, since the interviewee was a woman, she depicted the feminism theoretical perspective in the research. Since an analysis involves continued focus on social policies, we cannot separate the study on the relationship between personal lives and social policy from the empirical and discursive field of policies and welfare (Fink et al. 2009, p. 19). The interview provides a good reference point to merge personal lives and social policy as well as playing an important part in the processes by which personal lives and social policy shapes one another. Notably, mutual constitution of personal lives and social policy contributes to these processes in contemporary society though in a diverse, complex, and deep manner. Ideally, work has been an integral part in social policy (Mooney 2009, p. 51). There are various types of work, which include voluntary, paid, care, and informal work (Mooney 2009, p. 53). Nevertheless, it is difficult to establish clear boundaries between the different types of works. The shifts in social policy that influences the personal lives of workers and employers lead to the complexity in distinguishing different types of works in the society (Mooney 2009, p. 53). From a feminism perspective, women should take part in any form of work though normative assumptions assert that women should not take part in paid work at the expense of family chores and commitments. Specifically, voluntary work is usually diverse and requires huge and different commitments and allegiance (Mooney 2009, p. 53). Moreover, voluntary work is becoming increasingly becoming part of the social policy due to the simplicity of the agent (Mooney 2009, p. 53). Indeed, most voluntary works define the social welfare and social policy by extension, which creates and improves the well-being of the society. Voluntary organizations shape the society. Normative assumptions state the men and women can participate in voluntary work or welfare work. We can establish that work connects intrinsically with social and welfare policies, which helps in constructing lives (Mooney 2009, p. 53). Notably, variant social policies define different conceptions of work. Indeed, a clear examination of the relationships between personal lives, work, and social policy define the mutual constitution of `the personal and social policy. In the social setup, work defines and enslaves people. I derive this from my personal experience where I had to choose between my job and my family when my mother got sick. I think this related to the feminism perspective in my organization, which adopted a normative assumption that women should concentrate on family commitments and not on paid work. However, this is against the social policy in the UK that advocates that individuals should work around their personal lives (Mooney 2009, p. 53). Ideally, this social policy is only realistic in theory and not in practice since in most times workers must make choices between their family and work just like me. As such, in this context, we can assume that social policy does not construct lives. In analyzing social policy, we can consider the limits of social policies remit over a long time and analyze the effects of this remit. This will help us to incorporate other factors like disability and sexuality and gender while focusing on normative assumptions, meanings, and definitions enshrined in welfare practices and discourses as well as establishing their effects on personal lives as defined under mutual constitution (Fink et al. 2009, p. 30). This will bring in force the feminism perspective in addressing social policy under normative assumptions. With reference to offering care, the feminism theoretical perspective is alive in that the analysis of care relations that include ideas and ideals associated with care together with their influences in the mutual constitution of personal lives and social policy, consider age, class, gender, `race and sexuality (Fink 2009, p. 50). Personally, I had been taking care of my brother and sister to and from school and preparing dinner for my father as he came from work since primary school (Campbell 2014). Indeed, the aspects of gender and age as well as personal relationship in giving and receiving care complicates the study of social policy in constructing lives under the mutual constitution. For example, normative assumptions, assert that a mother may be able to accept performing particular tasks for an adult male son that may not be acceptable in reverse. This defines the feminism theoretical perspective in social policies. Moreover, normative assumptions find that a father may not provide physical care for a daughter when she reaches puberty and that it is problematic for a male care worker to go into a female clients home (Fink 2009, p. 11). This results from the fact that the society suspects all male workers in relation to the growing sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults in care homes (Fink 2009, p. 11). This plays a major part in assuming that females are the most efficient caregivers thus reducing their chances of joining paid work (Fink 2009, p. 11). Personally, I had to resign from my paid work and start taking care of my ailing mother since my father refused and adopted to continue with his employment (Campbell 2014a). In fact, normative assumptions derive that men are comfortable doing paid work that derives economic value in the society. As such, it is clear that all people whether male or female relate with work, which forms a central part in social policy. Various researches condemn the feminism approach in analyzing social policy in mutual constitution as defined under normative assumptions. Indeed, specific researches confirm that women participation in paid labor led to the reproduction of many working-class households and communities before the Beveridgean welfare state which defined how social policy constructed lives under mutual constitution (Mooney 2009, p. 12). Women paid work connect paid and domestic work. Notably, many cotton-processing companies depicted an industry that tended to be relatively unsegregated in gender terms, and in which there was a degree of convergence between female and male rates of pay (Mooney 2009, p. 12). This disguised the feminism theoretical perspective and normative assumptions did not consider women as efficient paid laborers. Recently, the level of women employment rose to considerable levels from the late 1950s levels where women accounted for only 46 per cent employment rate (Mooney 2009, p. 21). In fact, the level of the male employment rate has been reducing as the level of women employment kept increasing over the years against the normative assumptions under the feminism theoretical perspective (Mooney 2009, p. 21). Personally, I have experienced this where I worked at a luxury hotel in London before having my children (Campbell 2014a). The modern normative assumptions seemingly recognize that women can get employment and rise through the ranks to become senior managers. Personally, I started a filing clerk after leaving college and rose to become the Head of Personnel’s Personal Assistant (Campbell 2014a). My quest to be independent and gain some control of my own life as a woman defined feminism in the society. My commitment to my paid work as a woman confirms that work is central to our life in social policy, which defines the mutual constitution between the personal, and work showing the intertwining between my personal and work where one shapes the other. Notably, work revolves around a governed schedule that manifests time demands for all workers or caregivers, who adopt a mutual constitution with the society (Mooney 2009, p. 20). In social policy, work is dominant where it relates to issues of social security, health, education, housing and other aspects of social policy (Fink 2009, p. 23). Diverse forms of work shape our personal lives. This leads to diverse consequences to other activities that we engage in. Indeed, by participating in paid work, we reduce our commitment to address family issues, which defines how social policy constructs our lives under mutual constitution. Ideally, work forms a significant part in our personal lives since it defines our identity and our status in the society. My position as a Head of Personnel’s Personal Assistant defined me and how the society valued me since attaining such a position required a lot of effort and commitment (Campbell 2014a). As such, my work shaped me and enabled me to create a stable living. The society always seeks to establish an efficient and healthy workforce through various reforms. However, it is clear that such reforms adopt the normative assumptions and the feminism theoretical perspective by assuming that men were the primary breadwinners, assuming, and constructing women as unpaid domestic workers (Mooney 2009, p. 16). This defines mutual constitution by showing how social policy shaped our personal lives. This is against the statistics that established about 5 million women were in employment by 1900. In fact, my father adopts this normative assumption to depict feminism by holding a negative opinion for my mother to go to work (Campbell 2014a). My father would only provide food shopping and required my mother to earn money for her personal expenses yet he refused her to get a job that would interfere with his expectations (Campbell 2014a). Notably, my father was in agreement with normative assumptions that expected a woman to focus on family issues alone and leave paid work to men. This defines mutual constitution as the social policy shaped my mother’s life. As a woman, there was an expectation that I would adopt such assumptions, take over my mother’s evening duties, and take care of her when she got sick. To achieve this, I had to quit my paying job and start the unpaid domestic work according to the normative assumptions and feminism theoretical perspective. Otherwise, the society would reprimand my mother and me where our father would have taken us out for failing to conform to the societal expectations (Campbell 2014a). It is thus clear that in my case, the social policy defined my work and my life by extension. Social policy has equally been fundamental in upholding normative ideas and values about parenthood. The society seems to delegate the role of parenthood to women even where both parents are alive and together. The woman bears the role of feeding, advising, instructing, nurturing, and disciplining children to maturity. On the other hand, normative assumptions expect the man to provide shelter, food, education, security, healthcare, and clothing to the family (Fink 2009, p. 23). As such, the woman is the assumed caregiver (Fink 2009, p. 7) while the man is the assumed provider. These assumptions construct the respective men and women lives as defined under mutual constitution. Personally, I took care of my brothers and father despite my young age. The pressure from normative expectations constructed my life since I had to adopt the gender roles as defined by the social policy. As such, it is clear that social policy constructs lives under the feminism theoretical perspective. Nevertheless, there are challenges to the normative assumption that a woman should be the caregiver while her brothers should be providers and hence the contention that social policy constructs lives. The social policy forces people to choose between families and work thus defining their lives subject to the choices they make. Personally, when my mother contracted breast cancer and needed chemotherapy, she required somebody to support her visits to the hotel (Campbell 2014a). Surprisingly, my father would not provide the required care as he went into denial and continued with his employment (Campbell 2014a). My employers equally denied me leave to care for her at least once in a fortnight. On the contrary, they used the normative assumptions as defined in social policy to force me to choose between my family and work. Although our personal lives and work are inseparable in ideal cases, normative ideas separate personal and work thus shaping our lives (Mooney 2009, p. 25). A sense of work defines our personal identities and hence separating the two is always a tall order as seen in my personal narrative. The choice presented to me by my employers was a defining moment in my life whose effects lives on to this day. Indeed, after choosing my family over work, I lost my economic power to support my family and myself and gained more free hours that add no value to me. Gerry Mooney quotes an experience at a steel mill where many workers considered their job as an extension of their lives, a permanent condition, and ‘a lifetime commitment to’ (Mooney, 2009). This emanates from the fact that the social policy and normative assumptions do not support family friendly employment in most cases. Indeed, if there was such a leeway, I am sure my former employers would have allowed me to work as I attend to my ailing mother. Since that is not the case, the social policy forced me to quit my job and find another job after my mother’s death. In my research interview, I established that Sam faced numerous challenges at her workplace after returning to work after her maternity leave ended subject to the expectations from her employers (Campbell 2014a). Many things had changed during her absence making it hard for her to keep up. Her employers could not continue supporting her and welfare agencies offered little or no support. This jeopardized her working since the employers were not considerate of her personal issues. Initially, the normative assumptions emphasized on womens `natural abilities to mother and the importance of a mother to a child, which forced mothers to develop close emotional connections to their children (Fink 2009, p. 22). Women felt guilty if they preferred paid employment to full-time motherhood and hence women focused on motherhood only (Fink 2009, p. 22). My research interview equally established that Sam wanted the society to see her as a good mother and wife (Campbell 2014). Indeed, she reckons that all workers came home to their own families. From a feminism theoretical perspective, we can assert that this normative assumption enhanced the gendered roles of women and men in contemporary society thus defining how social policy constructs lives under mutual constitution (Fink 2009, p. 22). Nevertheless, there have been numerous criticisms on these normative assumptions with feminist critics arguing that welfare policies and practices revolved around an expectation that family life is sustainable through the `natural disposition of women to care for their children despite the simultaneous demand for women to enter the workforce (Mooney, 2004b). The critics noted that heterosexual nuclear families were the sites for shaping and constraining the personal lives of women (Fink 2009, p. 22). It is quite notable, that the social policy is dynamic and adaptive to the current societal trends and demands. Indeed, the normative assumption and social expectation that a womans `natural work was to be a wife, providing sexual services for her husband and caring for her family is less stronger than it was it was in the 19th century. This emanates from the fact that feminism theoretical perspective has developed new ways of thinking and exploring `the personal in various fields. This leads to the contention that social policy constructs lives under the mutual constitution. In fact, I do not think that my research interview demonstrated how social policy mutually constituted with her personal life as they entwined with each other (Campbell 2014). This is evident where Sam confirms that she fought many battles at her workplace and for support from outside agencies where the support she received helped her shape her personal life more positively (Campbell 2014). Works Cited Campbell, L 2014, Unpublished TMA 03, submitted in partial completion of DD305 Personal lives and social policy, The Open University. Campbell, L 2014, Unpublished TMA 06, submitted in partial completion of DD305 Personal lives and social policy, The Open University. Fink, J 2009, Care, The Policy Press, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes. Fink, J, Lewis, G, Carabine, J, Newman, J & Korner, B 2009, Course Companion, Policy Press, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes. Mooney, G 2009, Work, The Policy Press, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes. Read More