Should Governments Try to Make Better Families?
- 6 years ago
For Problem With Men Series--DO NOT MAKE LIVE
Question: Who should our social programs be aiming to protect?
Richard Gelles: I think that in the area of men and the problem with men, and the area of domestic violence. There's an intersection of the politics of social life with the realities of social life. And in 2009 a goodly number of the advocates and those in the research community are sort of putting their heads together and saying, who should we really be protecting? We spent a lot of time in the 1970s broadening the definitions of child abuse and broadening the definitions of domestic violence to convince a pretty apathetic public and pretty apathetic policy community that domestic violence was a legitimate social problem that deserved a place on the policy agenda and the funding agenda and the institutional agenda. And to a certain extent we succeeded. We probably succeeded beyond our expectations, although it did take thirty years.
Having then succeeded, we now look and say, gee, you know, maybe we're diluting our efforts. Maybe the police don't have to show up to every household where there's screaming and yelling and hitting. Maybe in the effort to create this social problem we've lost sight of the battered women. In child abuse, it's do you want to keep kids from being spanked, or do you want to protect children who are at risk of being killed? And in domestic violence we're now grappling with that issue. You know, it's 2009, and we face the fact that resources are finite. They're never going to be -- I think we've now given up the idea that there'll be unlimited resources to deal with social issues and social problems. So now we have to be realistic about what is it we want to prevent? It gets back to when I started at the beginning: what are people entitled to? They're entitled to be safe. They're not necessarily entitled to live in conflict-free households. Kids are entitled to adequate parenting, but they're not entitled to great parenting. And the idea that government has a role in assuring great parenting or conflict-free marriages or equity between men and women I just think is not a viable position any more.
Recorded on: October 29, 2009
Question: Who should our social programs be aiming to protect?
Richard Gelles: I think that in the area of men and the problem with men, and the area of domestic violence. There's an intersection of the politics of social life with the realities of social life. And in 2009 a goodly number of the advocates and those in the research community are sort of putting their heads together and saying, who should we really be protecting? We spent a lot of time in the 1970s broadening the definitions of child abuse and broadening the definitions of domestic violence to convince a pretty apathetic public and pretty apathetic policy community that domestic violence was a legitimate social problem that deserved a place on the policy agenda and the funding agenda and the institutional agenda. And to a certain extent we succeeded. We probably succeeded beyond our expectations, although it did take thirty years.
Having then succeeded, we now look and say, gee, you know, maybe we're diluting our efforts. Maybe the police don't have to show up to every household where there's screaming and yelling and hitting. Maybe in the effort to create this social problem we've lost sight of the battered women. In child abuse, it's do you want to keep kids from being spanked, or do you want to protect children who are at risk of being killed? And in domestic violence we're now grappling with that issue. You know, it's 2009, and we face the fact that resources are finite. They're never going to be -- I think we've now given up the idea that there'll be unlimited resources to deal with social issues and social problems. So now we have to be realistic about what is it we want to prevent? It gets back to when I started at the beginning: what are people entitled to? They're entitled to be safe. They're not necessarily entitled to live in conflict-free households. Kids are entitled to adequate parenting, but they're not entitled to great parenting. And the idea that government has a role in assuring great parenting or conflict-free marriages or equity between men and women I just think is not a viable position any more.
Recorded on: October 29, 2009
Question: Who should our social programs be aiming to protect?
Richard Gelles: I think that in the area of men and the problem with men, and the area of domestic violence. There's an intersection of the politics of social life with the realities of social life. And in 2009 a goodly number of the advocates and those in the research community are sort of putting their heads together and saying, who should we really be protecting? We spent a lot of time in the 1970s broadening the definitions of child abuse and broadening the definitions of domestic violence to convince a pretty apathetic public and pretty apathetic policy community that domestic violence was a legitimate social problem that deserved a place on the policy agenda and the funding agenda and the institutional agenda. And to a certain extent we succeeded. We probably succeeded beyond our expectations, although it did take thirty years.
Having then succeeded, we now look and say, gee, you know, maybe we're diluting our efforts. Maybe the police don't have to show up to every household where there's screaming and yelling and hitting. Maybe in the effort to create this social problem we've lost sight of the battered women. In child abuse, it's do you want to keep kids from being spanked, or do you want to protect children who are at risk of being killed? And in domestic violence we're now grappling with that issue. You know, it's 2009, and we face the fact that resources are finite. They're never going to be -- I think we've now given up the idea that there'll be unlimited resources to deal with social issues and social problems. So now we have to be realistic about what is it we want to prevent? It gets back to when I started at the beginning: what are people entitled to? They're entitled to be safe. They're not necessarily entitled to live in conflict-free households. Kids are entitled to adequate parenting, but they're not entitled to great parenting. And the idea that government has a role in assuring great parenting or conflict-free marriages or equity between men and women I just think is not a viable position any more.
Recorded on: October 29, 2009
Question: Who should our social programs be aiming to protect?
Richard Gelles: I think that in the area of men and the problem with men, and the area of domestic violence. There's an intersection of the politics of social life with the realities of social life. And in 2009 a goodly number of the advocates and those in the research community are sort of putting their heads together and saying, who should we really be protecting? We spent a lot of time in the 1970s broadening the definitions of child abuse and broadening the definitions of domestic violence to convince a pretty apathetic public and pretty apathetic policy community that domestic violence was a legitimate social problem that deserved a place on the policy agenda and the funding agenda and the institutional agenda. And to a certain extent we succeeded. We probably succeeded beyond our expectations, although it did take thirty years.
Having then succeeded, we now look and say, gee, you know, maybe we're diluting our efforts. Maybe the police don't have to show up to every household where there's screaming and yelling and hitting. Maybe in the effort to create this social problem we've lost sight of the battered women. In child abuse, it's do you want to keep kids from being spanked, or do you want to protect children who are at risk of being killed? And in domestic violence we're now grappling with that issue. You know, it's 2009, and we face the fact that resources are finite. They're never going to be -- I think we've now given up the idea that there'll be unlimited resources to deal with social issues and social problems. So now we have to be realistic about what is it we want to prevent? It gets back to when I started at the beginning: what are people entitled to? They're entitled to be safe. They're not necessarily entitled to live in conflict-free households. Kids are entitled to adequate parenting, but they're not entitled to great parenting. And the idea that government has a role in assuring great parenting or conflict-free marriages or equity between men and women I just think is not a viable position any more.
Recorded on: October 29, 2009