Sociology 8th Edition by Margaret Andersen ,Howard Taylor ,Kim Logio

تمرين 2

Debunking the Myths of Black Teenage Motherhood
Research Question: Sociologist Elaine Bell Kaplan knew that there was a stereotypical view of Black teen mothers that they had grown up in fatherless households where their mothers had no moral values and no control over their children. The myth of Black teenage motherhood also depicts teen mothers as unable to control their sexuality, as having children to collect welfare checks, and as having families who condone their behavior. Is this true?
Research Method: Kaplan did extensive research in two communities in the San Francisco Bay area-East Oakland and Richmond-both communities with a large African American population and typical of many inner-city, poor neighborhoods. Once thriving Black communities, East Oakland and Richmond are now characterized by high rates of unemployment, poverty, inadequate schools, crime, drug-related violence, and high numbers of single-parent households. Having grown up herself in Harlem, Kaplan knew that communities like those she studied have not always had these problems, nor have they condoned teen pregnancy. She spent several months in these communities, working as a volunteer in a community teen center that provided educational programs, day care, and counseling to teen parents, and "hanging out" with a core group of teen mothers. She did extensive interviews with thirty-two teen mothers, supplementing them when she could with interviews with their mothers and, sometimes, the fathers of their children.
Research Results: Kaplan found that teen mothers adopt strategies for survival that help them cope with their environment, even though these same strategies do not help them overcome the problems they face. Unlike what the popular stereotype suggests, she did not find that the Black community condones teen pregnancy; quite the contrary, the teens felt embarrassed and stigmatized by being pregnant and experienced tension and conflict with their mothers, who saw their pregnancy as disrupting the hopes they had for their daughters' success. These conclusions run directly counter to the public image that such women do not value success and live in a culture that promotes welfare dependency.
Conclusions and Implications: Instead of simply stereotyping these teens as young and tough, Kaplan sees them as struggling to develop their own gender and sexual identity. Like other teens, they are highly vulnerable, searching for love and aspiring to create a meaningful and positive identity for themselves. But failed by the educational system and locked out of the job market, the young women's struggle to develop an identity is compounded by the disruptive social and economic conditions in which they live.
Kaplan's research is a fine example of how sociologists debunk some of the commonly shared myths that surround contemporary issues. Carefully placing her analysis in the context of the social structural changes that affect these young women's lives, Kaplan provides an excellent example of how sociological research can shed new light on some of our most pressing social problems.
Suppose that Kaplan had studied middle-class teen mothers. What similarities and differences would you predict in the experiences of middle-class and poor teen mothers? Does race matter? In what ways does your answer debunk myths about teen pregnancy?