Parental investment and the economization of parenting

Michelle Spiegel, Yana Kuchirko and Nina Bandelj

Journal of Cultural Economy, 2024, vol. 17, issue 5, 548-566

Abstract: We argue that economists, as well as other social scientists, have increasingly focused on parenting as a means of building children’s human capital and reducing poverty. This is reflected, in part, in the use of the concept of ‘parental investment’ to study parenting, which has gained prominence over the past thirty years. This intellectual program is also evident in interventions targeting low-income parents to change parenting behavior to reflect the ‘parental investment’ model. Our study first documents the rise of the use of ‘parental investment’ in economics, psychology, and sociology, using a SCOPUS-generated corpus of academic documents. Through a critical analysis of two highly influential articles, we uncover the key assumptions of the economic approach to the study of parenting. We then show how this approach informs parenting programs that directly affect parenting behavior. Finally, we offer preliminary reflections on the consequences of the economization of parenting.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/17530350.2024.2349601 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:jculte:v:17:y:2024:i:5:p:548-566

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RJCE20

DOI: 10.1080/17530350.2024.2349601

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Cultural Economy is currently edited by Michael Pryke, Joe Deville, Tony Bennett, Liz McFall and Melinda Cooper

More articles in Journal of Cultural Economy from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().