Abstract
The family has been the object of political attention for many decades. However, the form that this attention has taken — in particular, the relation presumed to exist between the family and the state — has undergone important changes over time. This chapter examines the relation between the family and state that has developed in the present era, in the context of the wider historical and political trends discussed so far.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
Further reading
Arai, L. (2009) Teenage Pregnancy: The making and unmaking of a problem (Bristol: The Policy Press).
Arai’s analysis of the priority given to tackling teenage pregnancy during the New Labour years is exceptionally comprehensive. It deals not only with the policy claims and the political rhetoric which constructed the ‘teenage mum’ as a significant and growing social problem, but also contextualizes a truer picture of contemporary young motherhood within an understanding of longer- term fertility patterns, tied to geography and social class. It is an invaluable tool for the teaching and study of both the policy and politics of the family and fertility, and the construction of social problems. It also provides the most authoritative account so far of the UK experience, for scholars with a special interest in teenage pregnancy and motherhood.
Furedi, F. (2004) Therapy Culture: Cultivating vulnerability in an uncertain age (London: Routledge).
This influential book explores the opening up of the intimate sphere of life to public scrutiny and the dominance of cultural, political, and social life by a therapeutic culture. Furedi argues that a new idea of personhood founded on a presumption of vulnerability has come to the fore with profoundly troubling consequences for the individual and for society. Importantly, it sets out the historical and conceptual underpinnings of the ideas of infant and parental determinism that are so central to our understanding of contemporary parenting culture.
Parton, N. (2006) Safeguarding Childhood: Early intervention and surveillance in a late modern society (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan).
Parton’s analysis of recent changes in thinking about child abuse contains numerous insights into the changing relationship between parents, children, professionals, and the state. Focused on the UK, the book takes a long view of child welfare before dealing with the particular ideas and trends shaping the systematization of child welfare measures around the need to identify and pre-emptively rescue the vulnerable child. Although concentrating on child protection and social work, this study is pertinent to any scholarly attempt to understand contemporary conceptualizations of childhood.
Gillies, V. (2011) ‘From function to competence: engaging with the new politics of family’, Sociological Research Online, 16(4), 11, http://www.socresonline.org.uk/16/4/11.html.
This paper is just one of very many produced by Gillies in recent years, all of which provide significant insights into, and important analyses of, the new ways in which family life has been conceptualized by policymakers and academics. In ‘From Function to Competence’, Gillies is particularly sensitive to the influence of therapeutic thinking in social policy, offering a critique of the increasingly internal, individualized, and instrumental ways in which the moral significance of the family relationships are understood.
Ramaekers, S. and Suissa, J. (2012) The Claims of Parenting: Reasons, responsibility and society (London and New York: Springer).
This book offers a philosophical exploration of the nature of the parent-child relationship, but its probing of, and reflection upon, the intricacies of the parental experience will be of value to any scholar interested in contemporary parenting culture. The authors are very much concerned with the present, and in particular with the impact of instrumentalism on the meanings imbued in family life. The work is accessible to non-philosophers, adding an enriching dimension to the historical and sociological study of family life.
Copyright information
© 2014 Ellie Lee, Jennie Bristow, Charlotte Faircloth and Jan Macvarish
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Macvarish, J. (2014). The Politics of Parenting. In: Parenting Culture Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137304612_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137304612_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-30463-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-30461-2
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)