In recent weeks, David Cameron, the Conservative party leader, has been discussing a range of social issues, including the evident decline of marriage in the UK and the apparent rise of widespread anti-social behaviour. A consistent component in his argument is that many modern families are dysfunctional and that society has effectively broken down. The following Telegraph article outlines one of his recent speeches and Tony Blair’s response.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/17/ndads117.xml
I was in Sunderland last week; speaking to people on one of Sunderland’s less sought-after housing estates. According to government statistics, this area is among the worst 50 places to live in the whole of England; there is widespread substance abuse among the population, including a higher than average number of heroin users. Over the past 40 years there has been a massive growth in the number of single parent households (now the majority), but there has not been, according to the people I met, a breakdown of the community. Certainly there has been a reconfiguration of family structures, with the marginalisation of fathers, but this does not as yet appear to correspond to the end of community and shared civilized values. For example, the local school and sure start centre have been lending laptop computers to parents, on benefits, to take home; in the last two years, none have been lost. This is not to say that I buy the Blair line of, crisis, what crisis; things are OK and getting better. I live in the Finsbury Park area of north London and use public transport; I know it is scarier out there than it used to be. However, in my opinion, attributing negative changes in society simply to the breakdown of the nuclear family and arguing that the path to social improvement is to be found by encouraging marriage, is at best, simplistic; at worst, it could become a completely misleading driver of social policy.
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3 comments:
I completely agree with this. The notion that marriage is a panacea for all social problems is an ill-disguised return to scapegoating single parents. I don’t think the state can or should legislate on relationships: giving tax breaks to married couples is not going to create more happy families. I’m with Alan Johnson on this – here’s a piece about his response to David Cameron on this issue: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2022595,00.html
I agree too. There is no point putting pressure on people to marry as I think in the long run this can cause more harm than good. People tend to put up with failing relationships for longer if they are married...for the sake of the children, but an unhappy home is certainly not going to do any child any good.
Of course we should be helping married couples. Marriage is at its all time lowest and look at the state we’re in! The number of teen pregnancies has risen and we’ve just learnt that British kids are the most miserable of all kids growing up in rich countries. The research is clear on this: young people being brought up by single parents are less likely to be high-achievers and more likely to continue the cycle of poverty and ill-health they were born into. I think Cameron is right to take a stand on this issue. It’s about time somebody did.
Ben
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