The New Labour era, and beyond: narcissism comes of age

After describing New Labour's use of 'the child' as a form of human capital in social investment, and its penal ASBO programme as a breeding ground for childism, the chapter focuses on the government's innovatory ideal of disciplinary governance, encoded in neoliberal practice, to explain how, with reference to parent education, the behavioural approach to child-rearing grew to be regarded as normal and natural. The chapter discusses Supernanny, the reality television show, as an example of how, through the principles of narcissism, behaviourism and childism were popularised. The chapter argues that the effect of the neoliberal parenting industry on parent-child relations has been to negate the 'unconditional' in parental love in preference to a managerial and contractual approach that epitomises the general principles of neoliberalism and the specifics of the narcissistic temperament.

Laying the foundations for parental narcissism

This chapter considers the foundations of parental narcissism. The chapter begins by referencing the shift from the 'Me' decade to the 'Me' millennium, so as to contextualise two critical political developments: the coming of the New Right and the failure of the Labour Party to counter its influence. The chapter shows how the New Right set about creating the economic and social agenda, not least through Sir Keith Joseph's cycle of deprivation thesis and his growing interest in 'parent education' as an antidote to 1960s permissiveness. The chapter then proceeds to examine the cultural remoralising of Britain that begin to occur in the 1970s with particular reference to the Labour Party's retreat from liberal social democratic principles to those of a more authoritarian character. The rightward (and authoritarian) drift was gradually confirmed by the introduction of the 'new behaviourism' into British psychology and particularly into health visiting and social work, which served to problematise children's behaviour in favour of parental convenience.

The ‘long sixties’: 1958–1974

The theme of this chapter is the emergence by the late 1960s of an environment that gradually became more hostile to the social democratic family and to liberal progressive child rearing. The key themes of the chapter focus on the concerted political attempts to undermine 'Bowlbyism' (including the influence of Winnicott), particularly by feminists and Bowlby's enemies in the psychological/psychoanalytic community. In order to contextualize the 'dethroning' of Bowlbyism, the chapter considers the emergence of new social problems in relation to the changing perception of children (through the re-discovery of poverty and the spectre of juvenile delinquency), the failure of the Children's Rights movement, the ending of progressive primary education, and the hostility of the New Left to many of the values of old style social democracy.

Introduction

The chapter introduces the reader to the book's argument, themes, broader context, and methodological considerations. It discusses the central thesis, which is in two parts. First, between the 1920s and the late 1960s the culture of parenting progressed away from being characterized mainly by disciplinary attitudes towards one that was increasingly psychoanalytically informed and, particularly from the 1940s through to the early 1970s, also began to emphasize liberal social democratic ideals. Second, from the 1970s to the present, under the influence of neoliberalism, feminism, social liberation (permissiveness and identity politics), and structural economic/political reconfigurations, the social democratic ideal declined and popular child-rearing came to be represented by 'authoritative' ('tough love') parenting styles reflecting neoliberal and narcissistic values expressed through a form of adult-child relations governed by childism - 'a prejudice against children.’

Narcissism and the ‘politics of recognition’: concepts of the late-modern self

The chapter offers an overview of what it argues is the contemporary obsession with the Self - not only to the detriment of others, but also to that of the human potential for a better nature. It argues, following Hobsbawm, that the problems of values and judgment have been reduced the 'single denominator of the unrestricted freedom of the individual'. Consequently, the decline of social democracy has witnessed the failure of the socialist Left to resist the dissipation of significant Enlightenment values. The chapter is in two parts, the first of which provides brief discussions of the 'postsocialist' condition and the politics of recognition, the self and identity politics, and individualisation as 'a fate not a choice'. In the second part, several critiques of the therapeutic culture are briefly discussed, particularly with reference to what have been termed 'pure relationships' and the 'emotive will' which, it is argued, are mistakenly used to protect the self against the 'bleak coldness' of contemporary life. The chapter concludes by arguing for the jettisoning of contractual parent-child relations and renewal of the idea of parental self-sacrifice as a means of helping children to grow up.

Rebuilding the family: 1940s–1950s

The chapter examines the idea of 'the family' within the context of the so-called 'Golden Age' in social and economic affairs that was said to prevail from the late 1940s through to the early 1970s. It begins with a survey of the social democratic ideals regarding 'mental progress', as expressed in sections of Atlee's Labour Party, and of the Party's failure to convert the electorate to socialist ethics. It then goes on to provide a sustained account of the ideas and popular influence of John Bowlby and Donald Winnicott, emphasizing the significance they attributed to family, home, and the 'the bonds of love', particularly between mothers and young children, for the evolution of an emotionally mature social democracy in the post-1945 atomic age.

Wartime influences: from the evacuation to the Children Act 1948

This chapter continues the theme of chapter one in examining the changing nature of the adult-child relationship as it helped to underpin the post-war social democratic family ideal. The chapter focuses on the social-psycho impact of the evacuation, the influence of the debate around the 'problem family' in relation to social democracy, and the Children Act, 1948, for the care of children in care. These topics are discussed in relation to the lessons they provided for policy developments concerning the post-war family and the parent-child relations that were seen to be integral to the psychological health of the family as a social institution and to that of its individual members.

Social science and American liberalism

The chapter begins by surveying the social, economic and political developments that led to the decline of American liberalism in the 1960s in the face of a conservative revival. It argues that, largely under the influence of the New Left, feminism, and identity politics, one response of American liberalism was to reconfigure classical liberal individualism. A principal feature of this process was the creation by psychologists of an alternative parenting 'style' to the so-called 'permissiveness' (and individualism) of the Spock years. In explaining this transition, the chapter discusses the interrelationships between the collapse of liberalism, the reaction against authority, and the emergence of the 'new behaviorism'. It argues that these were instrumental in the creation and popularization of an alternative to the alleged failure of 'permissive' parenting (which was held to have weakened liberalism), namely that of psychologist Diana Baumrind's 'authoritative' style, which created a contractual 'interdependence' between parents and children, thereby stigmatizing an 'unconditional' approach to child rearing.

The re-imagining of adult–child relations between the wars

The chapter, together with the next chapter, argues that the period saw the re-imagining of age relations between adults and children away from a disciplinary approach towards one characterized by liberal principles based on a 'scientific' understanding of the child's emotional interiority; the parenting goal was to 'help and understand' children. The chapter examines several of the influences involved in the process such as cultural responses to the widely perceived post 1918 'crisis' in Western civilization, as well as the impact of Freudian psychoanalytic thought and practice. It also considers the 'new psychology', the rejection of behaviourism, notably by Susan Isaacs, the child guidance movement and the emergence of 'new era' progressive education. These developments, it is claimed, were important origins in what came to be known as social democracy's post 1940s family ideal.

Aspects of neoliberalism: political, economic and social realignment

The chapter is the first of three chapters introducing the argument concerning the emergence of parental narcissism as a critical feature of 'neoliberal times'. The chapter provides a select overview of some of the major realignments that have contributed to our culture of narcissism. It begins by acknowledging that late modernity is characterized by a precarious identity, an uncertain future, and a 'widespread sense of 'demands frustrated and desires unmet'. It then considers the tribulations of 'post democracy'(marked by political disenchantment), the advent of neoliberalism, and the interconnections between feminism, neoliberalism, and the social liberationist agenda - particularly in relation to the family, mothering and childcare. The chapter argues that these forces, certainly with respect to parenting, have come to exert a malign influence on our late modern selves.