Becoming an Unwed Mother: A Sociological Account

Most unmarried women who engage in sexual intercourse do not become unwed mothers; they use contraceptives, secure an abortion, or get married before the baby is born. What happens to the minority of women who bear illegitimate children? This book is the first study to describe in detail the actual situation of unwed motherhood, as opposed to the causes and pathology of deviance. Based largely on observation of middle-class white girls in a psychiatricallyoriented mater nity home and lower-class black teenagers in a day school for unwed mothers, the study focuses on the unwed mother's moral career as it is shaped by social agencies.

Table of Contents:
Introduction; I: The Situation of Moral Jeopardy; 1: Sexual Careers; 2: Becoming an Unwed Mother; II: The Process of Moral Reinstatement; 3: Hawthorne House *; 4: The Moral Career of the Unwed Mother; III: Accommodations to Illegitimacy; 5: The Project; 6: The Moral Career of the Negro Unwed Mother; 7: Speculations: The Politics of Illegitimacy; Appendix: Methods

About the Author :
Prudence Mors Rains is retired professor of sociology at McGill University, Montreal. She graduated from Lake Forest College and received her graduate degrees from Northwestern University. She has been a recipient of a National Science Foundation dissertation research grant. Her professional interests lie in the areas of deviance and social control in regards to woman and youth as well as qualitative methods, specifically ethnography.

Review :
-Although the titles of the book might lead one to think that the focus is on the causes of illegitimacy the book is actually more like a detailed ethnographic account of the last few months of pregnancy in two unwed-mother facilities. . . . I believe this is a valuable book with many suggestive insights about unwed mothers. The insights are not random and are joined into views of the overall social system, as I have tried to indicate.- --Ira L. Reiss, Social Forces -This book presents not only an unusual theoretical approach which is very refreshing and should prove helpful to anyone engaged in counseling or community service work, but could also serve as a -stepping stone- for teachers in the study of other inequities in our society such as educational opportunities or health care services. Perhaps its greatest merit is in helping us to see the necessity of deciding exactly what social problem needs to be addressed.- --Joyce Koym Bain, the Family Coordinator "Although the titles of the book might lead one to think that the focus is on the causes of illegitimacy the book is actually more like a detailed ethnographic account of the last few months of pregnancy in two unwed-mother facilities. . . . I believe this is a valuable book with many suggestive insights about unwed mothers. The insights are not random and are joined into views of the overall social system, as I have tried to indicate." --Ira L. Reiss, Social Forces "This book presents not only an unusual theoretical approach which is very refreshing and should prove helpful to anyone engaged in counseling or community service work, but could also serve as a "stepping stone" for teachers in the study of other inequities in our society such as educational opportunities or health care services. Perhaps its greatest merit is in helping us to see the necessity of deciding exactly what social problem needs to be addressed." --Joyce Koym Bain, the Family Coordinator "Although the titles of the book might lead one to think that the focus is on the causes of illegitimacy the book is actually more like a detailed ethnographic account of the last few months of pregnancy in two unwed-mother facilities. . . . I believe this is a valuable book with many suggestive insights about unwed mothers. The insights are not random and are joined into views of the overall social system, as I have tried to indicate." --Ira L. Reiss, Social Forces "This book presents not only an unusual theoretical approach which is very refreshing and should prove helpful to anyone engaged in counseling or community service work, but could also serve as a "stepping stone" for teachers in the study of other inequities in our society such as educational opportunities or health care services. Perhaps its greatest merit is in helping us to see the necessity of deciding exactly what social problem needs to be addressed." --Joyce Koym Bain, the Family Coordinator