Illegitimacy, Sex and Society

This study of illegitimacy in relation to Scottish social and religious life and social structure has relevance for the current debate on levels of unmarried parenthood. Blaikie provides an outline of areas of debate and a critical review of the relevant literature, both on historical sociology and on illegitimacy in Scotland. He analyzes the social discussion and remedies of the time, and concentrates upon a historical investigation of the social context of illegitimacy in the Banffshire parish of Rothiemay. Illegitimacy is found to be synonymous with a variety of social conditions, for example, a shortage of leasehold accommodation and to be well integrated into the norms of local society. Blaikie tests and analyzes primary sources of demographic and sociological data, and uses much of his documentary archives and data in hitherto unexamined and intensive ways. The book should be of interest to academics in the fields of demography, sociology, and social and economic history, also postgraduate students: especially those interested in microhistorical approaches and comparative research; those specializing in studies on the family, or specialising in Scottish studies.Table of ContentHistory, sociology and Scottish illegitimacy; sex and social class in the Victorian NorthEast; Rothiemay in context; unmarried motherhood - the demographic perspective; patterns of residence and childbearing; illegitimacy and the Poor Law; Church discipline, mobility and community.