Parenting the Crisis: The Cultural Politics of Parent-Blame
Tracey Jensen
Abstract
Bad parenting is so often blamed for Britain's broken society, manifesting in sites as diverse as the government reaction to the riots of 2011, popular entertainment like Supernanny and the discussion boards of Mumsnet. This book examines how these pathologising ideas of failing, chaotic and dysfunctional families are manufactured across media, policy and public debate and how parent-blame creates a powerful consensus that Britain is in the grip of a parenting crisis. The book tracks how crisis talk around parenting has been used to police and discipline families who are considered to be moral ... More
Bad parenting is so often blamed for Britain's broken society, manifesting in sites as diverse as the government reaction to the riots of 2011, popular entertainment like Supernanny and the discussion boards of Mumsnet. This book examines how these pathologising ideas of failing, chaotic and dysfunctional families are manufactured across media, policy and public debate and how parent-blame creates a powerful consensus that Britain is in the grip of a parenting crisis. The book tracks how crisis talk around parenting has been used to police and discipline families who are considered to be morally deficient and socially irresponsible. Most damagingly, it has been used to justify increasingly punitive state policies towards families in the name of making bad parents more responsible. Is the real crisis in our perceptions rather than reality? This is essential reading for anyone engaged in policy and popular debate around parenting.
Keywords:
dysfunctional families,
parenting,
parenting crisis,
bad parents,
Britain,
Mumsnet,
parent-blame,
media
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2018 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781447325055 |
Published to Policy Press Scholarship Online: September 2018 |
DOI:10.1332/policypress/9781447325055.001.0001 |