(M)othering and the politics of early intervention: biologisation and the reproduction of gendered, classed and raced inequalities

Early intervention policies reinforce engrained ideas about the culpability of mothers through a logic that centres the biological reproduction of inequalities. Drawing on examples from the UK and more widely, this chapter shows how the use of brain science in early years intervention practices reproduce inequalities through two processes: (i) positioning mothers as buffers who can overcome the effects of a harsh environment for their children; and (ii) asserting the effacement of social divisions at the same time as embedding inequalities. Gender inequalities are reproduced through use of attachment theory that keys into ‘intensive parenting’ culture coupled with brain development. Social class distinctions are reinforced through early intervention and brain science ideas that pose deprived mothers and children as biologically and culturally different, while race and ethnicity oppressions are carried through the imposition of Eurocentric notions of optimal childrearing roles and practices in early intervention initiatives