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Book synopsis

Why do conservative politicians and scholars in Britain, Australia and the United States continue to view rising rates of out-of-wedlock births and teenage pregnancies as a threat to civilised society? This book examines the process by which social science transforms a biological event - a birth - into a social and moral problem. Drawing on Foucault's 'archaeology of knowledge', Reekie stresses the role of statistics and other social-scientific discourses in the emergence of the illegitimacy 'problem' in the early nineteenth century and its continuing cultural significance. The book illustrates the continuity in concerns about illegitimacy, including pressure on the welfare system, fears of racial and intellectual denigration, the detrimental nature of fatherless families, and the association of rising illegitimacy with the supposed selfishness of excessively independent women.

Book details

Book category Books in English Humanities History History: specific events & topics

• Full title: Measuring Immorality
• Subtitle: Social Inquiry and the Problem of Illegitimacy
• Author: Gail Reekie
• Language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224
• EAN: 9780521629744
• ISBN: 0521629748
• ID: 02038181
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Weight: 415 g
• Dimensions: 228 × 152 × 20 mm
• Date of publishing: 13. October 1998

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