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Biologising Parenthood - A Lost Avant-Garde,

Laurie Taylor examines the tension between art and money. Also biologising parenthood: is neuroscience limiting how children's development is understood?

A lost avant garde: Laurie Taylor examines the tension between art & money in the contemporary art museum. He talks to Matti Bunzl, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois, and author of a study which takes a rare look behind the scenes of Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art. He found that a commitment to new and difficult work came into conflict with an imperative for growth, leading to an excessive focus on the entertaining and profitable.

Also, biologising parenthood: recent years have seen claims about children's brains becoming central to child health & welfare policies. Pam Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Aston University, Birmingham, argues that this has led to a simplistic construction of the child and one which claims parenting to be the main factor in child development.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

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28 minutes

Pam Lowe

Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Aston University, Birmingham

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Abstract: Lowe, P., Lee, E. and Macvarish, J. (2015)
Sociology of Health & Illness
doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.12223

Matti Bunzl

Director of Wien Museum, Vienna, Austria

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In Search of a Lost Avant-Garde: An Anthropologist Investigates the Contemporary Art Museum
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN-10: 022617381X
ISBN-13: 978-0226173818

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  • Wed 11 Mar 2015 16:00
  • Mon 16 Mar 2015 00:15

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