Abstract
Processes of family formation hold a particularly important, contested place in debates about the underclass and policies on social exclusion (Murray, 1994, 2000; Social Exclusion Unit, 1998b; Duncan and Edwards, 1999). Whilst underclass perspectives point to the alleged cultural reproduction of troublesome, benefit-dependent families, government policy targeting of, for instance, teenage mothers emphasises the social inequalities said to accrue to them and, later, to their offspring (Hobcraft,1998; Hobcraft and Kiernan, 1999; Arai, 2003; ISER, 2004).
I think it’s disgraceful — Girls go to school and aged sixteen don’t do no exams, think ‘I’ll open me legs, get a sprog and then I’m set for life’.
(Stuart, 26, married father, part-time employed)
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© 2005 Robert MacDonald and Jane Marsh
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MacDonald, R., Marsh, J. (2005). Becoming and Being a Young Parent: Family Careers in Poor Neighbourhoods. In: Disconnected Youth?. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230511750_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230511750_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-4039-0487-4
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-51175-0
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