Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Is Your Child’S Brain Potential Maximized? Mothering In An Age Of New Brain Research, Glenda Wall

Sociology Faculty Publications

Claims about the potential of early education and stimulation to enhance brain capacity have recently gained a prominent place in child rearing advice. This paper places the discourse that surrounds the new imperatives in its historical and sociological contexts and examines its implications for the experience and social expectations of mothers. In this light, the connections to the trend of increasingly child-centred and intensive parenting are explored as is the way in which these current claims fit within a neoliberal rationality where individual self-management, self-enhancement, and personal responsibility are seen as key.