Social, economic, and political context of parenting.

This article is written as a contribution to the parenting debate and as a response to Hoghughi and Speight. Our starting point is simple; parenting cannot be understood, and neither can interventions to support eVective parenting and successful childrearing be planned, unless it is placed within its economic, social, historical, and political context. Our paper is based around three interconnected themes, which arise from an extensive review of the parenting literature that one of the authors (JT) is undertaking. These are: + the problems of defining “good enough” parenting + the inadequacy of accounting for socioeconomic status in many parenting papers + the direct eVects of economic hardship and poverty on parenting. Before considering each of these themes, we briefly reflect on some historical aspects of the debate around parenting. The brief review is intended to highlight some continuities and discontinuities over time in the parenting debate.