University sociologist Dr Jan Macvarish will debate whether ‘bad science’ underpins the ‘early intervention’ consensus dominating family policy-making.
In a session which asks Can Neuroparenting Save the Family? Dr Macvarish will debate with MP and former Children’s Minister, Tim Loughton and the CEO of the Early Intervention Foundation, Carey Oppenheim at the debate on 22 October, which forms part of the Battle of Ideas festival.
Dr Macvarish will present arguments from her new book, Neuroparenting: The Expert Invasion of Family Life, that the early intervention agenda relies on unsound evidence, based on ‘bogus brain claims’ that the early years of childhood are all that matter.
Dr Macvarish shows in her book how programmes and interventions which purport to be based on neuroscience have been rolled out across maternity and child services.
And she suggests that ‘thousands of midwives, health visitors and early years professionals have been sold the lie that babies’ brains are incredibly vulnerable, that parental love can be ‘seen’ in brain scans and that parents must be taught to stimulate and bond with their babies just to achieve normal brain development’.
She argues however that science does not support this view and points to history, anthropology and common sense to ‘tell us that babies thrive in an infinite variety of settings, with many different kinds of care, and we all know that love is something we feel, not something that can be taught’.
The current agenda of early intervention and neuroparenting places ‘intolerable pressure on parents, mothers in particular, to always “do more” and “do it earlier”, suggests Dr Macvarish.
Dr Macvarish is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Parenting Culture Studies within the School of Social Policy, Sociology and social Research.