Abstract
Generations Unbound explores two critical themes associated with parenting: choice and class. Isabel V. Sawhill argues that parenting should be a choice and optimally entered into “by design, not by default” (p. 8) and that the existing and expanding class divide in the United States both influences and is informed by the decision to parent. The book explores the many algorithms surrounding becoming parents, which have been influenced by the recent seismic societal, medical, legal, and financial shifts in the American family.
Sawhill, an economist at the Brookings Institution, tackles the question of whether it matters if individuals “drift” into parenthood. Her resounding response is Yes, and that it matters most profoundly for children. She posits that unplanned children may have parents who are ambivalent about becoming a parent and are less prepared, less educated, and with fewer resources which subsequently puts their children at greater risk for increased poverty and inequality which creates “diverging destinies” for children.
Sawhill utilizes research from behavioral economics to suggest that the use of reliable and effective birth control, specifically long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), “changes the default” and transforms “drifters into planners,” by affording them the choice and the resources necessary to decide when and if they are ready to have children. LARC methods, including intrauterine devices and the subdermal implant, are safe, user independent, and have high rates of continuation and efficacy but are underutilized in the United States due to a lack of information, the reluctance of health-care providers to suggest them, the initial cost, and myths associated with them which have their genesis with medical complications from the Dalkon Shield in the 1950s. Sawhill states that providing women with both the means and the information is critical in creating an “era in which all children are wanted and born to parents ready to raise them” (p. 128).
Sawhill explores that over half of all births (70%) to young single women in the United States now occur outside of marriage and that unplanned pregnancies are resulting in women predominantly in their 20s drifting into parenthood rather than planning for it. She questions if marriage as a model is gone forever replaced by new forms of sex and dating including online dating and “hooking up” a term that denotes sexual contact without “the emotional entanglement of a relationship” (p. 22).
While the left argues for more social support for unmarried parents, the right argues for a return to traditional marriage. Sawhill recommends a third approach in the position that the government should be doing more to ensure the safety and success of children and families while also supporting and challenging individuals to make parenthood a choice, not an accident.
Generation Unbound offers readers a clear, expansive history of the incidences and impact of unplanned pregnancies. This is required reading for Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work readers and those who are committed to the health and welfare of children and families. Sawhill’s arguments may not suit all Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work’s readers’ taste, as it is at times conventional in its structure and tone. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Sawhill is committed to increasing our understanding of the American family and how changes in the last 50 years have affected women and children. Social workers are at the forefront of responding to many of these families and could be better informed by this book to respond more effectively.