The McDonaldization of Childhood

Children's Mental Health in Neo-liberal Market Cultures

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2394795
AutoresSami Timimi (0000-0001-5768-2231, Lincoln University, autor correspondente)
Ano2010
Volume47
Fascículo5
Páginas686-706
Data de publicação2010-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoTranscultural Psychiatry (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1363-4615 • E-ISSN: 1461-7471
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1363461510381158
PMID21088100
OpenAlexW2088807688
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas26
Referências citadas28

As the failings of neo-liberalism have recently been revealed through the collapse of much of the banking and financial services sector, it seems an opportune time to think about the impact this economic, political, and social value system has had on the well-being of children. After analyzing how our beliefs and practices around children and families are shaped by a variety of economic, political, and cultural pressures, I discuss how policies that promote a particular form of aggressive capitalism lead to a narcissistic value system that permeates social institutions, including those that deal with children. Not only does this impact children's emotional well-being, but it also shapes the way we conceptualize children and their problems. These dynamics facilitate the rapid growth of child psychiatric diagnoses and the tendency to deal with aberrant behavior or emotions in children through technical - particularly pharmaceutical - interventions, a phenomenon I refer to as the 'McDonaldization' of children's mental health. The present article seeks to challenge many of the unhelpful cultural assumptions regarding childhood embedded within the narrow biomedical frame that neo-liberalism has encouraged

Capitalism · Liberalism · Mental health · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Psychiatry · Psychological intervention · Sociology · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Child Development and Digital Technology · Law · Medicine · Psychology