Sign in

Nina Bandelj

@ninabandelj.bsky.social
1.7K followers 385 following 43 posts

Professor of Sociology, University of California, Irvine — economic sociology, culture, emotions, work & organizations, comparative political economy — new book, "Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Parening" (Princeton University Press, 2026)

PostsRepliesMedia
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 3h
Thank you so much! Made my day. 😊 Wishing you all the best!
000
Reposted by Nina Bandelj
Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Listen: @ninabandelj.bsky.social, author of Overinvested, spoke with the @reachoutandread.bsky.social podcast about when, why, and how we decided as a society to dedicate all our parenting resources to the “human capitalization of children":
podcasts.apple.com
Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting
When, why, and how did we decide as a society to dedicate all our parenting resources to the "human capitalization of children"—and at what cost?
071
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r...
podcasts.apple.com
Reach Out and Read
Parenting Podcast · Updated Semimonthly · From the national organization Reach Out and Read comes a brand new podcast centered around the belief that children's books build better brains, better famil...
010
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
At a child's pediatric check up, does it also feel like a #parenting evaluation? Hear me on @reachoutandread.bsky.social podcast, about #overinvested parenting pressures & how giving out books is not just for human capitalization but also to support parents & kids. @princetonupress.bsky.social
241
Reposted by Nina Bandelj
Economic Sociology & Political Economy @econsociology.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Economic reasoning & emotional culture transform child-rearing into exhausting labor and #children into investment projects, with troubling consequences. @ninabandelj.bsky.social's "Overinvested" is a groundbreaking and must-read book, intellectually & socially. economicsociology.org/2026/07/04/t...
economicsociology.org
The Emotional Economy of Parenting
by Nina Bandelj* In the summer of 2024, U.S. Surgeon General issued a public health advisory about something that would have seemed an unlikely candidate for federal alarm: parenting. More than 40 …
12201
Reposted by Nina Bandelj
Economic Sociology & Political Economy @econsociology.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
"Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting" by @ninabandelj.bsky.social is a must-read, intellectually and socially economicsociology.org/2026/07/04/t...
economicsociology.org
The Emotional Economy of Parenting
by Nina Bandelj* In the summer of 2024, U.S. Surgeon General issued a public health advisory about something that would have seemed an unlikely candidate for federal alarm: parenting. More than 40 …
031
Reposted by Nina Bandelj
Public Books @publicbooks.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
New at PB: @ninabandelj.bsky.social discusses her new book “Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting” (@princetonupress.bsky.social) with PB founding editor Caitlin Zaloom.
publicbooks.org
The “Emotional Economy” of Parenting: A Conversation with Nina Bandelj - Public Books
“I am an observer of how intellectual ideas travel and enter into everyday life, or how they come to be performed by families in ways that give those ideas a reality of their own.”
052
Reposted by Nina Bandelj
SASE | The Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics @sasemeeting.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Glasgow 2027 is already calling! If you're in Bordeaux, stop by the atrium at Sciences Po and look for the Scottish flag. Jo is waiting with a quiz, and you could win a restaurant voucher to use in Glasgow #SASE2026 #Glasgow2027 #Bordeaux #SASECommunity
041
Reposted by Nina Bandelj
Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Overinvested author @ninabandelj.bsky.social spoke with @publicbooks.bsky.social editor Caitlin Zaloom about her new book and how parenting has become economized:
publicbooks.org
The “Emotional Economy” of Parenting: A Conversation with Nina Bandelj - Public Books
“I am an observer of how intellectual ideas travel and enter into everyday life, or how they come to be performed by families in ways that give those ideas a reality of their own.”
051
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Many thanks to @cl-bellanger.bsky.social for a generous review of Overinvested @princetonupress.bsky.social. Curious how financial & emotional investment pressures travel abroad. Excited for Jeanne Lazarus @sciencespo.bsky.social to discuss Overinvested at @sasemeeting.bsky.social in Bordeaux!
042
Reposted by Nina Bandelj
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford @casbsstanford.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
So great to see this published! Check out this feature on "Overinvested," the new book by @ninabandelj.bsky.social, who worked on the book as a 2019-20 CASBS fellow. It's the latest in CASBS's partnership with @publicbooks.bsky.social
055
Reposted by Nina Bandelj
PT Klein @ptklein.com · 28/06/2026
Every week Ben puts together this incredible guide to the latest public scholarship. It’s an incredible resource, and I am so grateful there are folks like him supporting all of our work out there. 👇
1265
Reposted by Nina Bandelj
Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
+ My 282nd #ScholarSunday thread of public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ + blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
blackwhiteandread.com
#ScholarSunday Thread 282 (6/28/26) – Black and White and Read All Over
Then is finally now—it’s Mel Brooks’ 100th birthday! I think the maestro of mensches would agree that there’s no better way to celebrate this momentous occasion than with a thread of phenomenal public...
12617
Reposted by Nina Bandelj
Public Books @publicbooks.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
In the latest installment in our partnership with @casbsstanford.bsky.social, author and scholar @ninabandelj.bsky.social is in conversation with Caitlin Zaloom about how and when children became investment projects to manage.
publicbooks.org
The “Emotional Economy” of Parenting: A Conversation with Nina Bandelj - Public Books
“I am an observer of how intellectual ideas travel and enter into everyday life, or how they come to be performed by families in ways that give those ideas a reality of their own.”
053
Reposted by Nina Bandelj
Public Books @publicbooks.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
“How do norms and institutions need to change for this intimate experience of exhausted parenting to change?” New at PB: @ninabandelj.bsky.social on the “emotional economy” of parenting.
publicbooks.org
The “Emotional Economy” of Parenting: A Conversation with Nina Bandelj - Public Books
“I am an observer of how intellectual ideas travel and enter into everyday life, or how they come to be performed by families in ways that give those ideas a reality of their own.”
001
Reposted by Nina Bandelj
Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Listen: Overinvested author @ninabandelj.bsky.social speaks with Edward Plimpton, host of Your Anxious Child, about “intensive parenting” and parental burnout:
podcasts.apple.com
Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting: Interview with Nina Bandelj, PhD
Podcast Episode · Your Anxious Child · June 8 · 52m
032
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Many thanks @cl-bellanger.bsky.social for this thoughtful and generous review of Overinvested! I look forward to meeting you at SASE next week!
010
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Why should the public care what child-rearing has become? So enjoyed this interview with Kate Zaloom for @publicbooks.bsky.social. I nerded out on the meaning of #money, #relationalwork, #financialization, #privatization of #parenting, #humancapital & #psychic #income. Invited to check it out!
140
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Anxious children, anxious parents… Is it also because today we are pressured to overinvest financially and emotionally into our children? I really enjoyed a podcast conversation with pediatrician Dr. Ted Plimpton, one of his first with a sociologist. #parenting #anxiety #pressure
073
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Why Parenting Now Feels Like an Investment Strategy
In an age of hustle culture and hyperoptimization, parenting has become a source of pressure. The consequences aren’t great.
000
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
“As a mother herself, Bandelj relies on a mantra: “My child is not an investment project. Raising children should not be exhausting labor.” Grateful to Jackie Bischof @bloomberg.com for including me and Overinvested @princetonupress.bsky.social in her poignant essay. #mothersday #parenting
161
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Why Parenting Now Feels Like an Investment Strategy
In an age of hustle culture and hyperoptimization, parenting has become a source of pressure. The consequences aren’t great.
020
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Aww, Sarah! Love this. Sending from my happy place where I read your note it this morning. Warmest wishes.
000
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Two sociologists go to town talking about the demands of modern #parenting! Loved the opportunity and reactions from readers. #overinvested @princetonupress.bsky.social
031
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Happy global birthday to OVERINVESTED! 🎂 Celebrate with me & join a discussion organized by Dr. @audreyharroche.bsky.social in conversation with Prof. Tina Miller at Oxford Brookes University 📅 30 April, 16:00–17:00 (UK time) Online event open to all; register here: brookes.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
brookes.zoom.us
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: CYP Book Launch: Nina Bandelj, "Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting", with Tina Miller. After registering, you will receive a confirmati...
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: CYP Book Launch: Nina Bandelj, "Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting", with Tina Miller. After registering, you will receive a confirmati...
085
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Grateful to @annehelen.bsky.social for probing ❓❓❓about my parenting economy culture study for her ⭐ Culture Study. OVERINVESTED exposes *social* pressures and structures that lock in today's exhausting parenting standard, and how we can work together to re-imagine & re-structure. #parentalburnout
032
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Thanks a million, Pat @ophastings.bsky.social, for recommending OVERINVESTED to family sociologists. I am an interloper into that field, but uncovering the modern emotional economy of parenting reveals so much about how we have redefined children and what it means to raise them. #family #parenting
031
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Grateful for a chance to talk to @calebzakarin.bsky.social about OVERINVESTED - from child labor to mom emotional labor, from curating resumes to Varsity Blues & also how children are a common responsibility. @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social @princetonupress.bsky.social newbooksnetwork.com/overinvested
newbooksnetwork.com
Nina Bandelj, "Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting" (Princeton UP, 2026) - New Books Network
152
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Delighted that OVERINVESTED is now part of the CASBS Ralph W. Tyler Collection. And that I was able to say THANKS for the engaging and supportive time at @casbsstanford.bsky.social in the book acknowledgments! I can’t recommend it highly enough. Applications for fellowships due in the Fall. Apply!
051
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
"Your son saved someone's life? He can put it on his college application!" is what one caller was told and shared on @kqedforum.bsky.social in a recent episode with me. Not shocked? Read why in my "Children as Projects" essay - and more in my book OVERINVESTED. press.princeton.edu/ideas/childr...
press.princeton.edu
Children as projects
Contemporary parenting is far from permissive chaos and more relentless effort: careful scheduling, constant supervision, and pouring our souls—as well as loads of money—into our children.
130
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Delighted to hear @casbsstanford.bsky.social was listening in to my @kqedforum.bsky.social conversation. BIG thanks to CASBS for the crucial support to move the “Overinvested” book project forward. I know there are so many alumni out there thinking the same!
030
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
What do we *really* owe our children? Excited about *OVERINVESTED: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting* officially publishing next week. @princetonupress.bsky.social Grateful to @ucisocsci.bsky.social Heather Ashbach for talking to me about it. #children #parents #parenting
0145
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Merci beaucoup, Céline! I wanted to let you know about the book launch event: “From Priceless to Overinvested” conversation between Viviana Zelizer and Nina Bandelj, moderated by Frederick Wherry. January 22, 4pm ET. Register online: uci.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
011
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
So nice to virtually meet you @brenchurchill.bsky.social! I call out your important research with @leahruppanner.bsky.social in the book. Very happy to connect!
010
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Amazing, Paul-Brian! Thanks so much! I'm happy to zoom in, too, if that is something that would be of interest.
010
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Thank you so much @rlspang.bsky.social! For the launch event we are reassembling the team of “Money Talks,” which you were so kind to write about in @financialtimes.com.
010
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
New year, new book! Thrilled to launch OVERINVESTED in conversation with the brilliant Viviana Zelizer, moderated by Fred Wherry “From Priceless…to Overinvested” January 22, 4pm ET, register at: lnkd.in/g-ewbpyX
lnkd.in
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
2112
Reposted by Nina Bandelj
Michelle Jackson @mivich.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
My new book, The Division of Rationalized Labor, is now shipping! A brief summary of the argument to follow…
Front cover of The Division of Rationalized Labor. The cover includes four pictures: pen and paper, microscope, factory tower, police badge. Modern-looking yellow lines and graphs are superimposed.
810543
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
The best of worlds when reviewers get your main point! Yes, OVERINVESTED shows that demands of modern parenting are unsustainable. Very grateful to Kirkus Reviews. Book releases on January 20. @princetonupress.bsky.social
0102
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
How we came to take for granted that children are investment projects and childrearing is exhausting labor, and—thanks @publisherswkly.bsky.social for agreeing!—that “the society must radically reimagine its approach.”
161
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
Over the moon to announce OVERINVESTED, my new book baby due January 20, 2026, with a starred Publishers Weekly review. “Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting” press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
press.princeton.edu
Overinvested
What happens when children become investment projects and child-rearing becomes exhausting labor
2277
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Wonderful! Big congrats on the 2025 Thomas Wolfe Prize. Richly deserved @tressiemcphd.bsky.social !
070
Reposted by Nina Bandelj
Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 06/02/2025
This article--on the systematic dismantling of the NIH, NSF, and CDC--is a must-read not only for researchers and clinicians but for anyone who has ever gotten a vaccine, taken medication, read the results of a research study, or gotten tested for Covid, flu, or STIs. www.science.org/content/blog...
science.org
Revised and Extended: What's Happening Inside the NIH and NSF
20667398
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Our last encounter was a celebratory hug for his 2024 ASA Du Bois award and we reminisced about debating socialisms in Budapest in 2002 when we first met. Rest in power, dear Michael Burawoy. As we mourn this most tragic loss, my heart goes out to so many I know he mentored and loved.
040
Reposted by Nina Bandelj
Florencia Torche @ftorche.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
JOB ALERT: I am looking to hire two full-time pre-doctoral scholar to work with me in projects related to social stratification, human capital formation and health disparities. Data management and statistical analysis skills required. The position offers competitive salary and benefits.
main-princeton.icims.com
Careers | Human Resources
512188
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Today 12/16 is the deadline to submit to SASE @sasemeeting.bsky.social and look forward to a great meeting in Montreal, July 9-12. See you there!
040
Nina Bandelj @ninabandelj.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
An actual slide from University Emergency Response Training: Emergencies to be prepared for, next to earthquake and fires: -widespread flooding or severe weather -hazardous materials incidents ... ... -zombie attacks/other civil unrest Now properly certified and certainly unprepared 🤯
020
Reposted by Nina Bandelj
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
“While the US Department of Health considers 7% of household income as an affordable benchmark for childcare, in 2023, 2/3 of parents spent 20+% on childcare. Average cost for 2 children is higher than average rent in 50 states & average mortgage payment in 45 states” www.niussp.org/family-and-h...
niussp.org
Child care in America - N-IUSSP
America is facing a child care crisis: care services are costly and scarce and fail to meet the needs of families. The majority of U.S. voters, Joseph Chamie opines, feel ... Read more
1148