Syftet med uppsatsen är att utifrån en enskild persons sociala situation som ogift mor undersöka hur hennes liv gestaltades. Med utgångspunkt i den ogifta modern Anette Larssons identitet undersöks hur ett liv formades under nittonhundratalets två första decennier i mötet med en stenhuggarmiljö på Sturkö i Karlskrona skärgård, och under påverkan av samhällets lagar och av moderniteten i ett framväxande demokratiskt samhälle samt av familjens och släktens frireligiösa kultur. Studien bygger på dokument från bland annat Arkivcentrum Syd, Blekinge museum, baptistförsamlingen i Karlskrona och dagstidningarna Blekinge Läns Tidning och Wecko-Posten. De teoretiska begrepp som används är den övergripande diskursen som innehåller moderniteten, samhällets lagar och etiska idéer i den frireligiösa rörelsen, genus och kön med fokus på den ogifta modern och den syndiga kvinnan, mötet och dialogen vad gäller stenhuggaridentiteten, egensinne och skötsamhet i samband med begreppet klass, samt sociala nätverk kring familj och släkt. Uppsatsens slutsats är att den ogifta modern Anette Larsson formande sitt liv i epicentrum av den moderna världen i en sekulariserad skötsam arbetarklass, men där samhällets lagar utgick från en religiös föreställningsvärld, där syndabegreppet var i fokus och skam- och skuldbelade kvinnan, men där den egensinniga stenhuggarkulturens hedersbegrepp, som byggde på ansvar och lojalitet, förminskade syndens konsekvenser / The essay deals with the shaping of the social situation of an individual as an unmarried mother. The identity of the unmarried mother Anette Larsson is examined and her life which was formed during the first two decades of the twentieth’s century in a stone-cutter environment in Sturkö in the archipelago of Karlskrona, and under influence of the laws of society and the coming of modernity in a growing democratic society, together with the culture of her non-conformist baptistic family. The study is based on documents from Arkivcentrum Syd, Blekinge museum, Karlskrona nonconformist baptistic congregation, and the daily news-papers Blekinge Läns Tidning and Vecko – Posten. The theoretic concepts which are used are the Order of discourse, which means modernity, the laws of society and nonconformist ethic ideas, gender and sex with focus of the unmarried mother and the sinful woman, meeting and dialogue in stone-cutter environment, class and self-will and diligence, and the social network about family. The conclusion of the essay is that the unmarried mother Anette Larsson shaped her life in the epicentre of the modern world in a secularized diligenced working-class, where the laws of society were founded in a religious world of ideas, and where women got the blame and disgrace for a child born out of marriage. But the concept of honour in the self-willed stone–cutter culture, which had its origin in responsibility and loyalty, reduced the consequences of the sin.

Marrige has historically been seen as the norm of coexistance between men and women. In all times, regardless of this norm, unmarried women have gotten pregnant. Societies have delt with the situation of unmarried, pregnant women in different ways in different time periods. In Sweden in the beginning of the 1900 hundreds unmarried, pregnant women often advertised in the papers for a place to stay during their pregnancy. Advertised in the papers, at the same time, did also people who provided places were the women could stay. The pupose of this essay is to investigate the advertisements to and from unmarred, pregnant women and to analyse what they can tell us about their situation in Sweden between 1910-1938. I have also, partly, looked upon advertisements were fostercare is needed for the children of the unmarried women. Through my invetsigation I also came across paragraphs in the papers concerning unmarried women, which also have been anlysed and is discussed in the essay. The result shows that unmarried women were referred to as unknown and unnoticed in the advertisements. Special names were also used when reffering to the illegitimate children of the women. Using special namnes to distinguish women and children are discussed in the analysis by the help of Foucaults theory about discourses. Previous research about advertisements to and from unmarried women have been carried through by a student called Lena Wängelin. She investiagated advertisements to and from unmarried, pregnant women during the 20th century in womens magazines and nationwide papers. Lena Wängelins results has in many ways been compared to my own results, together with what other scientists have written about unmarried women and illigetimate children in the past.

The study examines the occurrence of children born out of wedlock in four parishes belonging to the current Karlskrona municipality during the period 1875–1925. The parishes surveyed are Fridlevstad, Rödeby, Tving and Karlskrona city-parish. The period is divided into two parts where the first includes the years 1875–1890 and the second part includes the years 1910–1925. The proportion of children with unknown/known fathers, the mothers' occupations, the fathers' occupations, and the mothers' age are also used as survey variables. The proportion of known fathers increases significantly between the study periods, which could be explained by a reduced internal social control, while the study shows that the introduction of a child welfare officer in 1918 resulted in an increased proportion of known fathers. The mothers' occupational designations change between the periods, for example, the proportion of maids decreases while other occupations are added. In the city-parish, professions such as washerwoman and waitress are added during the second period. The proportion of women working in the industry also increases between the survey periods. The increased proportion of professions, especially in the city-parish, could be linked to the demographic transition. As more people settle in a city, new needs emerge and thus also new occupational categories. The age of the mothers decreases between the study periods. When it comes to class affiliation, it can be noted that most of the fathers and mothers belonged to the working class. However, the proportion of fathers belonging to the middle class was higher than the proportion of mothers belonging to the middle class.