The ‘First Three Years’ Movement and the Infant Brain: A Review of Critiques

Abstract

Document Version

(Low) Expectations, Legitimization, and the Contingent Uses of Scientific Knowledge: Engagements with Neuroscience in Scottish Social Policy and Services

“…By examining our respondents' discussions of "scientific research" (which we understand here both as actual specific scientific articles and findings, and an imagined and assumed neurobiological "canon"), we adopt a "symmetrical" position common in the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) (Bloor 1991) and other traditions within STS. Accordingly, we diverge from the interests of some other authors concerned with neuroscience and policy (for example, Macvarish, Lee, and Lowe 2014;Wastell and White 2012;Edwards, Gillies, and Horsley 2015). Our principal concerns lie neither with the accuracy of our respondents' understandings of neuroscience, nor the appropriateness of the uses to which it is put.…”

“…Whereas this interviewee argued that we might learn from the neurosciences-like about adjusting school schedules based on recent findings concerning circadian rhythms of adolescents that are said to differ from those of adults-she thought that they are now often used for "social engineering," where "middle class values" were being "imposed" on "poor parents" (i.e., parents living in poverty). This resonates with critiques of "intensive parenting" advanced by some sociologists and social policy scholars (Lee 2008;Lowe, Lee, and Macvarish 2015b;Macvarish, Lee, and Lowe 2014;Macvarish, Lee, and Lowe 2015;Edwards, Gillies, and Horsley 2015;Wall 2004;Wall 2010). Respondent 5 furthermore reflected on why the neurosciences are used in policies, instead of (or in different ways than) the social sciences:…”

“…Scholars have also shown how a neurobiological idiom in parenting discourses can help to constitute a focus on individual parents rather than on the social and economic circumstances in which they find themselves. The result is that parents (especially mothers) come to be more anxious about raising their children (Macvarish, Lee, and Lowe 2015;Macvarish, Lee, and Lowe 2014;Wall 2004;Wall 2010).…”

“…The visibility of the neurosciences within UK policy has been documented extensively in recent years (Broer and Pickersgill 2015;Macvarish, Lee, and Lowe 2014;Wastell and White 2012;Edwards, Gillies, and Horsley 2015). A feature of much of this literature is a critique of policymakers, who are often regarded as misusing the neurosciences (Wastell and White 2012, 402;Edwards, Gillies, and Horsley 2015;Lowe, Lee, and Macvarish 2015a;Lowe, Lee, and Macvarish 2015b.)…”

“…Beyond the sphere of mental health, policy engagement with the brain has perhaps been most prevalent in initiatives around the first three years of life (often termed, "the early years"). In the UK, for example, findings and concepts from the neurosciences have been imported into policy debates and practice developments in order to emphasize the importance of the first three years of children's lives (a period where their brains are said to grow rapidly) (Broer and Pickersgill 2015;Macvarish, Lee, and Lowe 2014;O'Connor and Joffe 2013). These "early years" are framed as a "window of opportunity" in which interventions with and for parents and children can make a real difference to new lives, and there has been a rise in training courses for parents to capitalize on this.…”