Producing Neoliberal Parenting Subjectivities: ANT-Inspired Readings from an Informal Early Learning Program

This paper employs the Foucauldian notion of governmentality and actor-network theory’s notion of translation to propose that and show how a neoliberal imaginary permeates the everyday lives of Ontario families with young children. The paper traces the unfolding of school readiness as a dispersed policy network in Canada since the 1990s. Drawing on observational data collected in one Ontario-based, parent-child program, it then presents and discusses a series of vignettes that show how ostensibly supportive actions between practitioners and parents can also enrol parents in actor-networks oriented toward the realisation of neoliberal goals. The analysis corroborates Iannacci’s observation that neoliberal assemblages produce both possibilities and limitations for children, their parents and the educators who work with them.