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Understanding the Significance of the Teenage Mother in Contemporary Parenting Culture

Macvarish, Jan (2010) Understanding the Significance of the Teenage Mother in Contemporary Parenting Culture. . Sociological Research Online on-line. 10.5153/sro.2238. (doi:10.5153/sro.2238) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:26089)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.5153/sro.2238

Abstract

This paper attempts to understand the prominence given to teenage pregnancy in policy discussions since the late-1990s by contextualising it within a broader analysis of the contemporary 'culture of parenting'. The emerging field of parenting culture studies has begun to develop an analysis of the key features of policy, practice and informal culture. Three key concepts are discussed to shed an alternative light on the issue of teenage pregnancy and parenthood with the hope of further developing the healthy debate that has emerged in recent years in response to policy priorities: the development of 'parental tribalism' whereby differing parental choices and behaviour become a site for identity formation; the idea of a deficit at the level of parenting and intimate familial relationships; the reconceptualising of the parent as an autonomous, authoritative adult to a more infantilised imagining. The teenage mother, herself neither adult nor child, becomes emblematic of these developments.

Item Type: Internet publication
DOI/Identification number: 10.5153/sro.2238
Uncontrolled keywords: Teenage Pregnancy; Parenting; Sexuality; Adulthood; Family Policy
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Women
H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Women > HQ755 Popular works. Guidebook for parents > HQ755.8 Parents. Parenthood
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research > Centre for Health Services Studies
Depositing User: Tony Rees
Date Deposited: 03 Dec 2010 12:01 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:04 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/26089 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Macvarish, Jan.

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