This thoughtful and well-written book reveals more clearly than any previous publication the extent of our misunderstanding of the problem of teen pregnancy. Dubious Conceptions provides the basis for a new and constructive national dialogue on the subject. It is by far the best social-policy book ever written on teenage childbearing in the United States.
[A] stunning new account of how both liberals and conservatives "constructed" an epidemic of teenage pregnancy. Luker's meticulous research challenges the myth of an epidemic and concludes that it is poverty that causes teenage pregnancy and not the reverse.
Los Angeles Times - Ruth Rosen
In the country I'd like to live in, the publication of Dubious Conceptions would be a transformative event. The book would dissolve prejudices and stimulate informed, positive public policies improving the lives—and lowering the birth rates—of thousands of poor, young, unmarried girls and women. In Dubious Conceptions , Kristin Luker's treatment of the subject of youthful single pregnancy is lucid, orderly, and heartfelt...[It] makes a strong presentation for several reasons, including, first of all, that it addresses and thoroughly undermines the most popular, seductive, and intractable myths associated with teen pregnancy: that "teen mothers" and "welfare mothers" are congruent categories, and that teenage pregnancy causes and perpetuates poverty in the United States.
Contemporary Sociology - Rickie Solinger
Kristin Luker's new book offers a clearly written, much-needed survey of the recent academic literature on teenage motherhood, as well as an insightful overview of historical attitudes toward early childbearing and single mothers.
In These Times - Kim Phillips
[A] provocative critique of public thinking on early pregnancy and childbearing...Drawing on historical and social scientific evidence, [Luker] shows how both economic and cultural forces have contributed to the problems associated with early childbearing.
This is a book of immense scholarship which is also a compelling and accessible read. Luker examines the current social policy obsession with the "problem" of teenage pregnancy within the U.S....Introducing the stories of many young women who have been...demonized, Luker sensitively and sympathetically explores the realities of their lives. She shows that welfare reform and family policy should take account of the realities of life for women on the margins, and not seek to blame and punish them for society's ills.
Dubious Conceptions is an extremely readable, interesting treatise on the history of adolescent sexuality in the United States and the genesis of the politicization of teenage pregnancy.
Journal of the American Medical Association - Elizabeth M. Alderman
[A] stunning new account of how both liberals and conservatives "constructed" an epidemic of teenage pregnancy. Luker's meticulous research challenges the myth of an epidemic and concludes that it is poverty that causes teenage pregnancy and not the reverse.--Ruth Rosen "Los Angeles Times"Dubious Conceptions would be a transformative event. The book would dissolve prejudices and stimulate informed, positive public policies improving the lives--and lowering the birth rates--of thousands of poor, young, unmarried girls and women. In Dubious Conceptions , Kristin Luker's treatment of the subject of youthful single pregnancy is lucid, orderly, and heartfelt...[It] makes a strong presentation for several reasons, including, first of all, that it addresses and thoroughly undermines the most popular, seductive, and intractable myths associated with teen pregnancy: that "teen mothers" and "welfare mothers" are congruent categories, and that teenage pregnancy causes and perpetuates poverty in the United States.--Rickie Solinger "Contemporary Sociology"Dubious Conceptions is an extremely readable, interesting treatise on the history of adolescent sexuality in the United States and the genesis of the politicization of teenage pregnancy.--Elizabeth M. Alderman, M.D. "Journal of the American Medical Association"Dubious Conceptions provides the basis for a new and constructive national dialogue on the subject. It is by far the best social-policy book ever written on teenage childbearing in the United States.--William Julius Wilson, Harvard University
[A] stunning new account of how both liberals and conservatives "constructed" an epidemic of teenage pregnancy. Luker's meticulous research challenges the myth of an epidemic and concludes that it is poverty that causes teenage pregnancy and not the reverse.
Kristin Luker's new book offers a clearly written, much-needed survey of the recent academic literature on teenage motherhood, as well as an insightful overview of historical attitudes toward early childbearing and single mothers.
In the country I'd like to live in, the publication of Dubious Conceptions would be a transformative event. The book would dissolve prejudices and stimulate informed, positive public policies improving the lives—and lowering the birth rates—of thousands of poor, young, unmarried girls and women. In Dubious Conceptions , Kristin Luker's treatment of the subject of youthful single pregnancy is lucid, orderly, and heartfelt...[It] makes a strong presentation for several reasons, including, first of all, that it addresses and thoroughly undermines the most popular, seductive, and intractable myths associated with teen pregnancy: that "teen mothers" and "welfare mothers" are congruent categories, and that teenage pregnancy causes and perpetuates poverty in the United States.
[A] provocative critique of public thinking on early pregnancy and childbearing...Drawing on historical and social scientific evidence, [Luker] shows how both economic and cultural forces have contributed to the problems associated with early childbearing.
Dubious Conceptions is an extremely readable, interesting treatise on the history of adolescent sexuality in the United States and the genesis of the politicization of teenage pregnancy.
Journal of the American Medical Association
A very important work...Luker makes a compelling case that the familiar portrait [of teen-age mothers] we have been shown so often is the reflection of a public mood rather than a demographic reality...It has always been the case that our national problem is not teen-age childbirth or single-parent families but poverty itself...To continue to insist otherwise after publication of this wise, thoughtful book is to be either obdurately ill informed or ruthlessly ideological in the face of compelling evidence to the contrary.
New York Times Book Review
A fresh perspective but a patchy read, Luker's latest charts the history of society's obsession with pregnant teens and the social ills they have come to represent. The author of Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood, Luker is a professor of sociology and law at UC-Berkeley. Her central theme-teenage motherhood should be considered "a measure, not a cause of poverty and social ills"-will be embraced by liberals, but both sides of the debate over teen pregnancy will benefit from the author's analysis of society's prejudice. Luker points out that although older women and white women became the largest group of unwed mothers in the 1970s and '80s, it is "the teenage mother-in particular the black teenage mother-[who] came to personify the social, economic, and sexual trends that... affected almost everyone in America." Although full of dismantled misconceptions and startling statistics, Dubious Conceptions is marred by such unilluminating observations as, "A marriage license is no guarantee that...a father will continue to support his children financially or even come to visit them." Later in the work, Luker interjects the voices of young mothers. Their navet is heartbreaking-"It's even harder than they say it is. I knew it would be hard, but not this hard," says one-and they are the ones who best underscore the importance of Luker's work. Teenage mothers are not a disease but young people whose problems, along with society's, require a real understanding of the issues. (May)
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Teenage pregnancy is a major social and political issue in the United States, but Luker (sociology, Univ. of California, Berkeley) points out the flaws in considering it an epidemic. She shows that, while most teen pregnancies occur out of wedlock, the majority of illegitimate infants are borne by older women. Sixty percent of all teenage mothers are 18 or 19 years old; 57 percent of all unmarried mothers are white; and teenagers today know more about contraception and are less likely to get pregnant than they were 30 years ago-but are also more likely to keep their babies. By tracing the history of unwed motherhood in America and the factors that encourage it, she demonstrates that poor teenage women are the most likely to become pregnant and that pregnancy is a measure of poverty, not a cause. The book has an appendix of statistical data, notes, and an extensive bibliography. Unlike Gary E. McCuen's Children Having Children: Global Perspectives on Teenage Pregnancy (McCuen Pubs., 1988), which is international in focus, Dubious Conceptions deals with the situation in the United States. Recommended for all collections.-Barbara M. Bibel, Oakland P.L., Cal.
Insightful, scholarly, and wonderfully readable analysis of Americans' misconceptions about teenage pregnancy and the impact of these beliefs on public policy.
The unwed teenage mother, especially the black unwed teenage mother, has become the symbol of social, sexual, and economic trends that are causing increasing anxiety for Americans. Sociologist Luker (Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood, 1984) asserts that current welfare reforms aimed at reducing teenage pregnancy rates are doomed to fail because they are based on a basic misunderstanding of the problem. In her words, "Early childbearing doesn't make young women poor; rather, poverty makes women bear children at an early age." Luker traces ideas about early childbearing from colonial times to the present and demonstrates how the notion that the country is witnessing an explosion in teenage pregnancy came to have broad acceptance among both policy makers and the general public. Of special interest is her argument that poor women and affluent women are choosing two different solutions to their common problem of raising children in a society that offers little support: Poor women adopt the traditional American pattern of early childbearing, having babies before they enter the work force and relying on family help, whereas affluent women postpone childbearing until they are well established in their careers. Given the circumstances, she says, it makes sense for poor women to have their babies at an early age. The real problem is the underlying social and economic forces that compel women to make such choices. "Society should worry not about some epidemic of `teenage pregnancy' but about the hopeless, discouraged, and empty lives that early childbearing denotes," she concludes. She offers no ready solutions, but her fresh perspective on the issue of teenage pregnancy is an important contribution to the current debate over welfare reform.
Commonsensical, timely, and very persuasive.
