Midterm Review and Political Theory and Child Care

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Midterm Reviewand Political Theory and Child
Care
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Any questions about last time?
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Midterm results

• Average grade 70
• 22 of class at 80 or above
• 62 of class at 68 or above

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What was I looking for?

• Re critique of neoliberalism from perspective of
  third way
• Basics
• shared rejection of citizenship simply as status
• shared an interest in linking rights to
  responsibilities
• Mead on incompetence vs Giddens on moral hazard
• Mead on social barriers vs Giddens on social
  barriers

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What was I looking for?

• Re critique of neoliberalism from perspective of
  third way
• Fine tuning
• Giddens supports enforcing work searches but
  how does his interest in paid work duties differ
  from Mead?
• would the third way see the social investment
  state in Meads vision of citizenship?
• Giddens interest in social programs that cater
  to the majority in a society not just the poor
• equality of opportunity as meritocracy what
  would Giddens say? How does his interest in
  inclusion?
• Giddens on positive welfare psychological
  well-being

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What was I looking for?

• Re critique of neoliberalism from perspective of
  third way
• Fine tuning
• Giddens, and especially Esping-Andersen, on a
  new gender social contract how does this
  compare to Mead?
• the concern that Giddens and Esping-Andersen
  express about poverty traps
• the resulting life-course focus
• the resulting interest in human capital

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What was I looking for?

• Re critique of communitarianism from feminist
  perspectives
• Basics
• Gilligan and Taylor share a critique of theories
  that align autonomy with individualism
• both theories emphasize duties/responsibilities
  Gilligans ethic of care/Fraser on Mens duty to
  care and Etzioni on the need to restore
  equilibrium between entitlement and social
  responsibility.
• both theories share an interest in pushing the
  family to the forefront of theorizing
• Etzionis call for men (and women) to prioritize
  caregiving intersects with Frasers solution to
  Wollstonecrafts dilemma

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What was I looking for?

• Re critique of communitarianism from feminist
  perspectives
• Fine tuning
• Collins on care, cultural work and community
  development how does this relate to
  communitarianism?
• Etzioni may rhetorically sound like Fraser, but
  his policy interest in part-time work and
  tele-commuting is about Polyanna about the way
  gender patterns unfold in reality

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When marks really suffer

• Locating a theorist with the wrong camp
• Attributing ideas to a theories that s/he
  actually rejects
• Suggesting that someone like Popenoe is a
  communitarian without defending this position

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When marks suffer

• Not answering the question!
• Notice that the exam asked you to evaluate one
  school of thought from the perspective of
  another.
• This did not invite you to critique the second
  perspective.

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Some details to get right

• Etzioni is a man.
• He is a communitarian not a communitarianist
• Like wise, Mead is a neoliberal not a
  neoliberalist

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Quality of writing

• People in pursuit of an Arts degree in an English
  university MUST be able to write adequately.
  This means
• Using proper sentence structure no fragments,
  even on exams.
• Grammar counts. One or two careless errors in a
  midterm who cares? But regular mistakes hurts
  your grade.
• Papers that are riddled with poor grammar will
  risk failing regardless of content.

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Any questions about my feedback?
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Office hours this week

• Today, immediately following class
• Plus Wednesday for the 1.5 hours at my class. I
  welcome students who wish to discuss their
  midterms to follow me back to my office so that I
  discuss issues privately/in confidence.
• Anyone who thinks their mark is unfair and wants
  me to reconsider must come with a defence of this
  position IN WRITING.

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Last 10/15 minutes of the class

• Return the exams
• Hand out optional paper assignment.
• Catherine Anne Vauthier please see me before you
  leave class.

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Political theory meets policy

• The Case of Child Care
• The federal Liberal Party campaigned on a
  commitment to launch the initial ground work for
  a pan-Canadian child care program.
• The Conservative Party campaign did not include
  any child care commitment. The closest promise
  is a proposed 2000/child tax deduction.

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Putting the proposals in context

• The Liberal proposal
• 5 billion over five years i.e. 1 billion per
  year.
• Quebec has a 7 per day child care system that
  costs 1.3 billion annually.
• We spend roughly 30 billion annually on public
  pensions

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Putting the proposals in context

• The Liberal proposal
• Aims to create 250,000 spaces by 2009.
• The province of Quebec alone will have 200,000
  spaces by 2005 130,000 which were created since
  1997.

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Putting the proposals in context

• The Conservative proposal
• I believe (but need to verify) that a 2,000
  deduction for every child (under 18?) would cost
  the federal government between 1.5 to 3 billion
  annually.
• Plus it would cost about half as much again for
  the provinces/territories collectively.

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Putting the proposals in context

• The Conservative proposal
• A tax deduction is worth more to families as
  their income rises.
• Tax rates
• 16 under 32,000
• 22 of income between 32,000 and 64,000
• 26 of income between 64,000 and 105,000
• 29 of income above 105,0000

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Putting the proposals in context

• The Conservative proposal
• A 2,000 deduction is worth
• 320 for individual with income below 32,000
• 440 for individual with an income between
  32,000 and 64,000
• 520 for an individual with an income between
  64,000 and 105,000
• 580 for an individual with an income above
  105,0000

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Todays task

• Divide into 4 groups
• Which party proposal is better?
• Be sure to answer this question from the
  standpoint that prioritizes theories of
  citizenship.
• Pick a representative to report back to the rest
  of the class.