Gouverner en tant que pairs (governing as peers) : experts réticents et parents compétents au sein de l’État-providence suédois
(2020) In Lien social et Politiques p.128-128- Abstract
- In recent years, parenting support has gained traction in the Swedish welfare state in both policy and practice. Parenting is seen as determining child outcomes and are thus in need of knowledge and expertise. Yet, at the same time, parents are conceptualised as experts of their own child. The intriguing paradox between parents being experts while at the same time being in need of parenting support is the topic of this article.
Based on interviews with parenting support actors, we identify that parenting support actors are “reluctant expert”, keen to respect the autonomy of parents and careful not to appear paternalistic. However, according to the parenting support actors interviewed in this study, suppressing the expert role can also... (More) - In recent years, parenting support has gained traction in the Swedish welfare state in both policy and practice. Parenting is seen as determining child outcomes and are thus in need of knowledge and expertise. Yet, at the same time, parents are conceptualised as experts of their own child. The intriguing paradox between parents being experts while at the same time being in need of parenting support is the topic of this article.
Based on interviews with parenting support actors, we identify that parenting support actors are “reluctant expert”, keen to respect the autonomy of parents and careful not to appear paternalistic. However, according to the parenting support actors interviewed in this study, suppressing the expert role can also be a strategy to attract more parents and to foster the self-realisation of the “competent parent”.
It is argued that the “reluctant expert” and the “competent parent” can only be understood if parenting support practices are viewed as a form of micro-technologies for governing parents within a neoliberal frame, emphasising indirect and horizontal steering of parenthood and families. We propose to conceptualise this as “governing as peers”. Typical for the neoliberal frame is also that both problems and solutions are identified at the individual and family level, rather than the structural level, which infers a responsibilisation of parents.
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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/e2976505-666f-4302-939b-f045f25ded2e
- author
- Eklund, Lisa LU and Lundqvist, Åsa LU
- organization
- alternative title
- Governing as peers : Reluctant experts and competent parents in the Swedish welfare state
- publishing date
- 2020
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Parenting support, Experts, Governmentality, Governing as peers, Sweden, Welfare State
- in
- Lien social et Politiques
- issue
- 85
- pages
- 151 pages
- ISSN
- 1703-9665
- project
- The Politics of Parenting Support: Development, Forms and Agents
- language
- French
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- e2976505-666f-4302-939b-f045f25ded2e
- date added to LUP
- 2020-06-15 10:30:15
- date last changed
- 2021-03-12 08:15:27
@article{e2976505-666f-4302-939b-f045f25ded2e,
abstract = {{In recent years, parenting support has gained traction in the Swedish welfare state in both policy and practice. Parenting is seen as determining child outcomes and are thus in need of knowledge and expertise. Yet, at the same time, parents are conceptualised as experts of their own child. The intriguing paradox between parents being experts while at the same time being in need of parenting support is the topic of this article. <br/>Based on interviews with parenting support actors, we identify that parenting support actors are “reluctant expert”, keen to respect the autonomy of parents and careful not to appear paternalistic. However, according to the parenting support actors interviewed in this study, suppressing the expert role can also be a strategy to attract more parents and to foster the self-realisation of the “competent parent”. <br/>It is argued that the “reluctant expert” and the “competent parent” can only be understood if parenting support practices are viewed as a form of micro-technologies for governing parents within a neoliberal frame, emphasising indirect and horizontal steering of parenthood and families. We propose to conceptualise this as “governing as peers”. Typical for the neoliberal frame is also that both problems and solutions are identified at the individual and family level, rather than the structural level, which infers a responsibilisation of parents.<br/>}},
author = {{Eklund, Lisa and Lundqvist, Åsa}},
issn = {{1703-9665}},
keywords = {{Parenting support; Experts; Governmentality; Governing as peers; Sweden; Welfare State}},
language = {{fre}},
number = {{85}},
pages = {{128--128}},
series = {{Lien social et Politiques}},
title = {{Gouverner en tant que pairs (governing as peers) : experts réticents et parents compétents au sein de l’État-providence suédois}},
year = {{2020}},
}