'Adolescence', Pregnancy and Abortion: Constructing a Threat of Degeneration

ISBN-13: 9780415553391 / Angielski / Twarda / 2010 / 184 str.

Catriona I. Macleod

Opis

Why does the narrative of the negative consequences of teenage pregnancy, abortion and childbearing persist? This book outlines a critical view of "teenage pregnancy" and abortion, arguing that the negative view of these issues relies on a particular understanding of adolescence. The book traces the invention of ‘adolescence’, the imaginary wall that it constructs between young people and adults, as well as its deeply entrenched status within a colonialist discourse that equates development of the individual with the development of civilisation, and the consequent threat of degeneration that is implied in the very notion of ‘adolescence’.

Many important issues are explored, such as the invention of adolescence and the associated ideologies and contradictions; the invention of teenage pregnancy as a social problem; the construction of abortion as the new social problem; issues of race, culture and tradition in relation to teenage pregnancy; and health service provider practices, specifically in relation to managing risk. In the final chapter, an argument is made for a shift from the signifier ‘teenage pregnancy’ to unwanted pregnancy.

Using data gathered from studies from four different continents, this book highlights central issues in the global debate concerning teenage pregnancy. It is suitable for academics, postgraduate and undergraduate students of health psychology, women’s studies, nursing and sociology, as well as practitioners in the fields of youth and social work, medicine and counselling.

Spis treści

1. Setting the Scene. 2. Adolescence as Transition? 3. Conundrums: Sex Education, "Teenage Pregnancy", and Decision-Making in the Context of Abortion. 4. The Invention of the "Social Problem" of Teenage Pregnancy. 5. Young Women and Abortion: The New Social Problem. 6. Othering: Race, Culture and "Teenage Pregnancy"/Abortion. 7. Managing the Threat of Degeneration. 8. Summary and Conclusions: Where to From Here?

O autorze

Catriona Macleod is Professor of Psychology at Rhodes University, South Africa. She has written extensively in national and international journals in the areas of teenage pregnancy, termination of pregnancy, methodological issues, feminist theory, and postcolonialism and Psychology.