The calculated child: The emotional-economic logics of parenting

What happens when parenting becomes an economic project? In this episode of Cultural Economy in the Kitchen, Philip Roscoe and Addie McGowan chat with sociologists Nina Bandelj and Joe Deville about how parenting is shaped by markets, metrics, and digital platforms. Nina discusses parental investment, emotional economies, and the pressures they create on parents trying to do the best for their kids. Through his study of childhood avoidant eating, Joe reflects on digitally mediated parenting. He explores how platform searches, expert advice, and biopedagogies mediate family mealtimes and shape parental decision‑making. Together, they reveal how contemporary parenthood is negotiated through data, devices, and cultural expectations—and how families navigate, resist, and reinterpret these forces. Academic journal podcast from the Journal of Cultural Economy editorial collective.