Overinvested

The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting

Nina Bandelj

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Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Princeton University Press
20 January 2026

What happens when children become investment projects and child-rearing becomes exhausting labor

Parents are exhausted. When did raising children become such all-consuming, never-ending, incredibly expensive, and emotionally absorbing effort? In this eye-opening book, Nina Bandelj explains how we got to this point-how we turned children into financial and emotional investments and child-rearing into laborious work. At the turn of the twentieth century, children went from being economically useful, often working to support families, to being seen by their parents as vulnerable and emotionally priceless. In the new millennium, however, parents have become overinvested in the emotional economy of parenting.

Analyzing in-depth interviews with parents, national financial datasets, and decades of child-rearing books, Bandelj reveals how parents today spend, save, and even go into debt for the sake of children. They take on parenting as the hardest but most important job, and commit their entire selves to being a good parent.

The economization and emotionalization of society work together to drive parental overinvestment, offering a dizzying array of products and platforms to turn children into human capital-from financial instruments to extracurricular programs to therapeutic parenting advice. And yet, Bandelj warns, the privatization of child-rearing and devotion of parents' monies, emotions, and souls ultimately hurt the well-being of children, parents, and society. Overinvested offers a compelling argument that we should reimagine children and what it means to raise them.

By: Nina Bandelj
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780691270043
ISBN 10: 069127004X
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 20 January 2026
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Nina Bandelj is Chancellor's Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine, and past president of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics. Her most recent book is Money Talks: Explaining How Money Really Works (Princeton).

Reviews for Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting

""Supported by thorough research, Bandelj’s account persuasively demonstrates that modern parenting is untenable and society must radically reimagine its approach. It’s an urgent reckoning for American parents."" * Publishers Weekly, starred review * ""Necessary reading about the troubled state of contemporary American parenting."" * Kirkus *