Margaret’s social isolation that led her to becoming depressed and lonely could have been stopped had she taken her child to a Sure Start Children’s Centre where she could have being able to leave her baby for the day as she continued with her education and made herself more able to take care of them both by gaining the skills that she would need to make both their lives, it would have allowed her to meet other mothers who could help her socially and form friendships with people who were also coping with having a child to take care of. This would have also given her time to return to her education or attend some short courses that could have given her the right skills that could allow her to take on a well paying job.
People who are out of work, single parents, suffering from illness or who live in large families are more likely to suffer from poverty of some sort. Margaret as a woman she would have struggled in the job market as she would have being seen as someone who might be unable to cope with the demands of work with her domestic burden.
Because she did not do this she spent large amounts of time caring for her baby while she was at home, this would have had a very large psychological effect on her giving her time to think about too much and allowing her to brood on unnecessary thoughts as she was unable to be with her friends as they went out socialising without her. When her child started to go to school she was left with a rather large vacuum that her child had filled as they both spent the day together. This vacuum led to her starting to feel lonely then her loneliness led to her depression and her being prescribed anti-depressants.
Another factor that led to her ending up depressed was the fact that she was unable to complete her education this meant that she was unable to continue onto college with her friends who continued with their education and managed to get the necessary skills to get employment. Although, she had had skills of looking after children and working in a shop that was not going to be enough for her as she needed the qualifications to solve her employment problem. She said that she had skills in child care and shop keeping, she could have taken vocational courses in child care that would allow her to work in a child care centre where she would have being able to put her knowledge and skills to good use. She also should have registered her child to a nursery, for an example Sure Start, whereby she was going to meet new friends. It seems Margaret lacked Network Support (T. Bilton & others, 2002), whereby she was going to be assisted in different support, financially and emotionally, for an example she was going to be assisted if she had consulted C.P.A. they would have being able to help her into employment through their department ‘The Young Person Employment Initiative (YPEI) which gives young people the opportunity to provide potential employers evidence of a credible work history when they are applying for jobs. It also allows them to experience a real working environment, learn new skills and gain the self confidence that they need as they seek to make a move to permanent employment.
Around the time that her best-friend started working at a new job Margaret realized how far back she had fallen from her friends as she noticed how her best friend was making new friends at work and going out with them. This made her feel isolated and alone as she also had to deal with having her baby away from her during the day. She felt excluded from the society.
Social exclusion is the process that intentionally or unintentionally serves to exclude an individual from the benefits and rights that we all refer to as normal. Margaret’s lack of a proper education and working skills led to her being isolated from her friends and her social lifestyle. This is another factor that led to her falling under depression, low self esteem and lack of confidence at such a young age. This exclusion kept her from getting valuable advice and information that could have helped her deal with the stress of having a child at her age. She could have being able to find out more information about the types of benefits that she could get as she lived with her parents, she could have also found out about Network support which would have given her a massive amount of help regarding her loneliness. She also could have received help regarding her finding a good job had she gone to her local Connections office. The connections office could have helped her to continue her education when she was able.
In conclusion is clear that Margaret suffered from a type of poverty that left her unable to see herself going further in life than taking care of her child, her own image of herself and her own summation of her abilities would have left her with the belief that she is unable to find work or progress in her education, displayed by her admitting that she finds herself nervous whenever she has to go to a job interview. The fact that she was excluded socially and found herself with a diminishing number of friends from what she was used to at her young age would have left her feeling lonely which led to her depression.
Book Review
Introductory Sociology 4th Edition 2002 - Bilton T, Bonnet K, Jones P, Lawson T, Skinner D, Stanworth M & Webster A
This is a book that I have used previously in my Access course and I find it very useful with clear understandable English. The book is written in a way that makes reading it and understanding the concepts and definitions in it very simple. I found quite a lot of information regarding Margaret’s situation in this book and it was very helpful in my doing this assignment.
References
Bilton T, Bonnet K, Jones P, Lawson T, Skinner D, Stanworth M & Webster A, 2002 4th Edition, Introductory Sociology
