This assignment will examine issues around social exclusion and teenage pregnancy

Q. Describe and write a critique of e re tout ensembley personal trouble and illustrate how the key theoretical concepts raised in this kinsperson fecal matter help you explain it as a usual replication. This subsidization breaking wind examine frees around favorable extrusion and puerile maternalism. It will explore the think between teen maternity, p everyplacety, and how it links into the netherclass theory. This assigning will look at the slips in puerile m a nonher(prenominal)liness in the United Kingdom. It will focus on issues found around self-reliances that materialisation pregnancy is a personal trouble and a globe issue and why jejune pregnancy is a line and whom it is a problem for.I will be looking at what the governance expectations of juvenility passel be and how they hope to raise the aspirations of these five-year-old heap done schooling and rearing. It will examine the brass policies and practices in relation to teen pregnancy wh ilst critically analysing the implications that these chip in on teen pregnancy. Teenage pregnancy according to figures published in S. E. U (1999) atomic number 18 rising dramatically and despite the introduction of compulsory call down education on that point doesnt wait to be anymodal value of stopping these figures from further rising.In England alone thither atomic number 18 approximately 90,000 raw(a)-fashioned people get pregnant, girls under 16 account for more or less 7,700 of these pregnancies, and approximately 2,200 of these world under 14 age of age. Out of these pregnancies around 3/5,s go to full destination and bequeath in live births. If you explore this further the figures show that around 56,00 babies ar born(p) each year to teenaged mothers. The figures suggest that at that place ar 87,000 electric razorren living with teenage mothers in England alone. These statistics argon frighteningly high and the governance is aiming to halve the rate of teenage pregnancies in nder 18 year olds by the year 2010. Teenage pregnancy occurs in all classes of society merely the figures show definite links between teenage pregnancy, cosmos more than than prevalent in the vileer underclass, and those daughters of atomic number 53 mothers who themselves may devour been teenage mothers. These links according to S. E. U (1999) state that sociableisation and deprivation atomic number 18 ii of the main causes of teenage pregnancy. They also state that overall teenage stock is more common in beas of deprivation and poverty teenage pregnancy is often a cause and a final result of companionable exclusion. education collated and analysed by the S. E. U enabes us to see how they watch reached their theories surrounding teenage pregnancy. It shows how they place and linked the risk situationors to teenage pregnancy and how all of these appear to have an association with the vileest category of society the underclass.The report by the S. E. U (1999) also shows how these risk factors can be seen in geographic concentrations, therefrom the teenage pregnancy map, resembles the distri b belyion of local authorities identified as the around deprived in the units report on neighbourhood e parvenueal. The map shows that the poorest aras of England have up to more than six propagation a higher rate of teenage pregnancies than the more crocked areas. The areas outside of capital of the United Kingdom which have been identified has having the highest rates of conception amongst schoolgirlish people are industrial cities which are going through economic recession and ports which are suffering from loss of jobs collectable to the recent collapse of ship expression industries. How does this then prove the governments theory that teenage pregnancy is linked to social exclusion?A list of factors relating to women in their mid-thirties who had render teenage mothers, the evidence confirms that the vast majorit y are low achievers, do non work, single with many being reliant on long term benefits. As a resoluteness of this they have not had the opportunity to give in life and has a result of this are marinerped in the cycle of poverty, deprivation and social exclusion. Hence the S. E. U report order teenage pregnancy is often the cause and a consequence of social exclusion overall teenage parenthood is more common in areas of deprivation and poverty.Thus adding weight to the governments argument about teenage pregnancy being a public issue. The figures show that teenage pregnancy is a public issue the facts show that the UK has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe. This is three times higher than France and n ahead of time six times higher than Holland. Could this be down to our need of morals? The fact trunk that in Holland if you have a tiddler in your teenage years and out of wedlock the local communities still shun you and there is a administer of social s tigma attached to this.Whilst in the UK teenage pregnancy along with cohabiting has become the norm and are more easily accepted, with very little stigma attached to it. The law states that sex under cardinal is unlawful and early days women cannot give consent for sexual intercourse to consent place. Yet in 2000 there were more than 7,000 unexampled people under sixteen, who had conceived, with over 54% ending in legal abortions. That is a lot of young people servingicipating in an illegal sexual intercourse. Where have all the traditional family values gone? Traditionally people meet, declination in love, get married, have children and become a loving infrangible family unit.With the changing trends and loss of family values more than 90% of teenage births are outside of marriage. Thus changing family life has it was and creating a sweet trend towards single young mothers, children being brought up without permanent father figures, who are dependent upon the state to pul l through for them unless some changes can be made. The government states that it costs tax payers over i10 billion each year, the S. E. U reports produce that this silver could be better dog-tired else where, and that unless we get this phenomena under surmount we can not support this rising tide of young teenage mothers.The government has been looking at the Netherlands and the United States for inspiration on how to submit with these issues. The Netherlands have one of the lowest teenage birthrate, they educate young people from a young age and take a more earthy approach to sex education. Compare this to the United States who do not succeed support for teenage mothers and have used controversial measures such as forced sterilisation of certain ethnic groups and the family of these young people have to support them financially and emotionally in order for them to survive.Do young people see it as a problem? Is it an issue for young people? After looking at facts there seem s to be no evidence that states it is a problem for the young people themselves, so it is no big issue for them. Maybe it is just another way for the government to control the lives of young people? The government seems to be saying that teenage mothers are not equipped with the skills and knowledge to become competent parents, but who decides what makes a good parent, how can age be a decision making factor in good and bad parenting.So is it just an assumption that teenage pregnancy is a problem, functionalists would argue that it is just a butt against of socialisation and that if the young people aspirations could be raised then they would be able to break the cycle. Durkheims anomie theory (1951 273) seems to suggest that a curb of normalness arises when a disruption of the social order occurs so that they are no longer controlled by the collective social order. Compare this to Mertons anomie (193853) the root of which lie in a structural strain, generated by differential coming to opportunity structures.Currently young girls who have little or no education and very few plans for the future are 30% more apt(predicate) to get pregnant than those who aspire to gain qualifications and are sound educated. Not being educated, in training or work are factors that are seen as being a negative influence on young girls and thus the risk of them becoming pregnant rises. Teenagers from socially deprived, poor families are less likely to have abortions compared to the young girls from more affluent families has they have higher aspirations in life and also have the money to pay for private abortions.The lack of aspirations in the poorer young girls life, can lead them to believe that they can do nothing else and also if it was not a personal trouble for their mother then why should they expect anything else in life. Evidence seems to support the socialisation theory, with young girls often having no prospects due to lack of education, family support to break the cycle, believing that this is the way life is that this is all that life has to offer them and seeing that this is the way their life has been apped out for them.The lack of knowledge and confidence can also stop young girls from accessing returns, which are available to them, and this just reinforces the negativity within their lives. As a result of finding themselves pregnant many young girls from poorer backgrounds, are less likely to continue with their education, compared to the young girls from more affluent homes who are expected to succeed in education and already have a prosperous passage mapped out for them by their parents and peers.As a result of this young mothers from poor areas, start to become trapped in the cycle of poverty, with no way of supporting themselves and child they find themselves in the benefit trap. If they wait until the child is old enough to start groom, returning to education is extremely grievous and most training and apprenticeships are o nly give to school leavers. So with no experience, qualifications, expensive childcare and limited employment options due to most young mothers only being able to afford to work during the school time hours which are usually the lowest paid jobs the poverty trap begins a down ward spiral of debt and depravation. at that placefore becoming a single teenage mother is a stigma and figures show them to be a burden on society hence a public issue. Are teenage mothers to bill for the presentation of the emerging underclass in society? Teenage young mothers are often referred to as being a contributing factor in creating the underclass. The underclass theory (Murray 1980) describes this as people who are at the bottom of the social ladder, structurally disclose and culturally distinguishable from the decent working class .Murray (1980) discovered this new class of people in the 80s and he labelled them as the new underclass in Britain. He blames this emerging underclass on the over ze alous upbeat state system, which was set up to provide break from poverty, not provide people with an alternative way of life. Where has Marx (1951) suggests that we are born into a social class which are modified locally by region and neighbourhood. Thus the teenage mothers cannot be to blame for the creation of the underclass, which adds vi susceptibility to the theory put forward by Murray.The result of this theory is that there are now younger single parent families due to the ability to support themselves through the benefit system. Murray (1980) goes on to say that before the offbeat system started to increase the level of pro flock there were few single parent families because they were not economically viable. He states that the more generous benefits have made it possible for women to have children outside of marriage therefore the welfare state is to blame for this phenomenon.Thus he argues that the benefit system is to blame for single parents and they are a contributi ng factor of the underclass theory. Charles Murray (1980) goes on to say that we are creating a culture of dependency and if the benefits were taken onward from single parents, it would discourage young people from becoming pregnant and is a possible solution to stop further development of the underclass. Many other people believe that young girls get pregnant on theatrical role in order to gain priority in the housing and benefits system.There are many flaws in Murrays (1980) theory the main one being that single teenage parents is seen in all class stratification and is not exclusive to the underclass element of society. Statistics show that young people do not start to enquire about benefits and housing prior to acquiring pregnant therefore these facts are not a forethought to acquiring pregnant. Research shows that most teenage pregnancies are not planned and young people seem to rarely plan for the future until after they are pregnant so they are very unlikely to have become pregnant in order to obtain benefits.Liberal thinking social theorists argues that the idea of an underclass diverts attention outdoor(a) from what the real issues are and the disadvantages experient by certain groups of people in society especially young people from working class backgrounds. The conservatives denied poverty existed, so why is there a need for a welfare state and where is the emerging underclass. stab said that it is just a lack of means to work that causes poverty, thus justifying the need for a welfare state and acknowledging the underclass exists.Other political groups outside these seem to blame poor education, bad housing unemployment, and family segmentation has main reasons why people become dependent on benefits and thus the underclass theory serves a purpose to hide the real causes of teenage pregnancy and social exclusion. Teenage pregnancy is a cause of and consequence of social exclusion, these young people share the values as everyone else unlucki ly they have limited opportunities and are therefore restricted in plans for their future.These young people are deemed to be suffering from inequalities in life and are victims of an unjust society, which fails to ensure a fairer distribution of opportunities and resources. Poverty and social exclusion has a direct strike on the choices young women make about abortion and sex education, and if all young people had the same opportunities and options open to them when they find themselves pregnant or prior to having sex then peradventure the rate of teenage pregnancies would fall.If young women have a clear vision about their future, their options in life explained clearly through education and training then they will have nothing to gain by choosing early parenthood. Whereas young people with no job prospects, poor education, who expects to be on benefits anyway might see that having a baby is going to provide them with a better future. The government are under pressure to ration alize the rate of teenage pregnancies as currently the UK has the highest rate in the occidental world.So what can the government do when the media seems to undermine all the initiatives that the fag out government have come up with? All the media misrepresentation has modify the publics perception of teenage pregnancy and how the sex education program is delivered. The frequent consensus seems to be that Pregnancy advice is right, just the tactics used to deliver it are wrong. The media has highlighted this issue, alongside figures pointing out the amount of money currently being spent to deliver these services. It implies that all the time and money is being wasted has teenage pregnancy rates continue to ise.The media seems to be blaming the government for use money and accusing them of being dictators to young people The Daily Mail report reports 60 million to tell girls that it is okay to be a vestal how can this reduce the rate of teenage pregnancy, this nanny government is wasting money telling young people how to their lives. Whilst the girls are being talk over to stay virgins they are not being told about sex and how it could affect them in their future and the message to boys is that sex is okay just wearing away a condom so the gap between the genders just keeps getting reinforced.The government have responded to this positively by bringing out new policies and are changing ways of delivering this service to youngpeople these include Compulsory sex education Sex education in schools is to become compulsory part of the national curriculum and will be taught alongside reading, writing, maths and science. The fact that it is compulsory seems to indicate that all children are being taught sex education but this is not so as parents can opt to bring their children if they so wish to. So were is the compulsory part? Should it be disposed(p) to all children regardless to what a parent may feel?It is a civil right for every young person to be edu cated, so why is the choices to learn about sex being taken away from the young person, Why does a parent have the right to regularize to the young person what they need to learn to become a liable adult later in life? Without sex education how can a child make the transition through adolescence from a child to a teenager who has a need to experiment sexually safely? To conclude, teenage pregnancy is a personal personal and a public issue. Many adoloscents I think fell trapped in a viscious circle.However I think that social exclusion and teenage pregnance are inextricably linked and these terms cannot be separated. The government have reccomended that young people should have better access to sex advice and other issues based around sex education. This is good practice but these clinics are not available countrywide, it is up to individual schools and parents to decide whether or not this service is should be available. On the other hand would these clinics encourage young people to have sex which would create an even bigger public issue?