The Politics of Care in a State of Crisis: The Romanian Case (original) (raw)

Obstacles to Caring Institutions in Eldercare: The Czech Republic as a Social Laboratory of Capitalist Transformation

Problemy Polityki Społecznej: studia i dyskusje, 2019

of the eldercare system began to take shape in the wake of capitalist transformation. However, it also took place in a society with relatively egalitarian societal attitudes and expectations. The article draws from qualitative research based on interviews with care workers in direct care and expert interviews with professionals working at different levels of eldercare system in the Czech Republic. Our analysis is based on the feminist theory of care that allows us to critically reflect on both the changes and the unintended consequences of the public care policies settings, and the perspectives of communication partners on how to provide quality care. Our goal is to identify elements that are perceived positively in connection with the rules setup and which, from the point of view of individual actors in formal care, help to create a genuine environment of caring institutions.

TOWARDS A SCARCITY OF CARE? Tensions and contradictions in transnational elderly care systems in central and eastern Europe Edited by Noémi Katona and Attila Melegh

Edited volume, 2020

This volume addresses the main underlying causes of care migration and aims to draw attention to the increasing inequalities in provision and access to care on a European scale. The book focuses on care migra- tion from and to central and eastern European countries and contains chapters on migration to and from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Ukraine. It aims to highlight the socio-historic, political, demographic and economic fac- tors and institutions that drive and organise care migration. Where do migrant caregiver come from; what is their social background and labour market situation? Under what conditions do they work and what is the role of recruitment agencies in defining these conditions? How compet- itive is the transnational care labour market? By discussing these ques- tions and the different care migration trends between European coun- tries, the book shows that the constantly increasing marketisation of care in recent decades has resulted in growing inequalities, not only within and between households, but on the transnational level.

Child care between familialist ideology and gender roles in post-communist Romania

Abstract Child care is an issue that should be studied as a social and political process involving several dimensions of public policies, social representations, cultural values and social practices. This article starts from the premise that child care is a key indicator for the well-being and family policies of modern democratic societies and of their gender regimes. It seeks to analyse the Romanian post-communist legislative framework and public policies architecture regarding the child care regulations, provisions and ideologies. After a brief survey of the principal concepts employed, the author refers to a brief historical context, the Communist period being indispensable for understanding the political, economic and social factors affecting child care since 1989. The second part of the article examines the post-communiste policies concerning child care and equal opportunities (the state of legislation, statistics, government strategies and the resources deployed). The main hypothesis of the article is that in post-communist Romania, at the level of legislation and public provisions, child care is implemented through the lens of a political ideology and within some public policies strongly influenced by familialism, while labour market is governed by competitions and neo-liberal perspective. Thus, the principle of gender equality plays a marginal role in child care provisions. Keywords: child care, public policies, familialism, labour market, gender equality

Towards a transnational analysis of the political economy of care

Feminist Ethics and Social Policy. Towards a New …, 2011

The resurgence of the employment of domestic and care workers in private homes in many industrialised countries over the last two decades has been shaped by important social changes, most notable among this are the increased responsibilities and rights of women across the globe to be both earners and carers. This reflects graduated shifts from the 'male breadwinner' to 'adult worker' model taking place in many industrialised societies and unemployment and poverty in developing countries. As many of those who carry out this work are migrant women, this reveals the movement of women seeking opportunities created by the changing patterns of post-colonial migration to financially support their families. Such migrations are also structured by the policies developed by states in richer countries.. The nature of care regimes in host countries clearly influence take up: where care provision is commodified and where care cultures favour home-based/ surrogate care, then reliance on the low paid end of the private market is more common (Ungerson and Yeandle, 2007; Williams and Gavanas, 2008). At the same time, migration rules construct the legal, social and civil rights of migrants in different ways, in tandem with employment policies that may serve to deregulate the economy and to increase the casualisation of labour. Superimposed on this universe of change is the ongoing reconstitution of social relations of gender, care and domestic service, of hierarchies of ethnicity and nationality, and of differentiated meanings of, and rights to, citizenship. This paper draws on earlier research into migration and home-based care in Europe as a basis for developing a transnational analysis of the political

Care work – international perspectives and reflections

Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie

Care is an issue with strong roots in Feminist and Gender Studies, and since the beginning of the 21 st century different strands of Sociology are 'discovering' it as one of the most pressing issues of our time. The meteoric rise of care and care work on the societal as well as sociological agenda is strongly related to the discussion of the crisis of social reproduction or the crisis of care. A closer look at this phenomenon and the care debate in general directs our attention at four aspects. First, the discourse about the crisis of social reproduction and the crisis of care in Western Europe, initiated by debates headed by activists and scholars in Spain (Precarias a la Deriva 2004) and Italy (Sconvegno 2007) has highlighted the lack of care provision by the state and the increasing precariousness of care work as feminized and racialized labor (Gutiérrez Rodríguez 2014). After the global financial crisis in 2007/8, Western European governments have reacted to it by implementing austerity measures, causing in particular cuts in the areas of elderly, child and health care (Gavanas and Williams 2008). Subsequently, we are observing how austerity schemes lead to a return of precariousness and precarity and a decline of the welfare state, putting care provision at risk. In this context, research on the crisis of social reproduction and care engages with the analyses and critic of capitalism (Völker and Amacker 2015). Second, the contemporary capitalist organization of care provision

The Difficulties of Romanian Families Withelderly People in Care (A Diagnosis of the Romanian Elderly Who Are at Risk)

Journal of Community Positive Practices

The article analyzes some characteristics of the nowadays development of health policies, referring to the phases of the process of elaboration of public policies in health, to the new public management and to some characteristics that limit the reform process such as incrementalism, uncertainty and limited rationality theory. Also, it talks about deciding systems with closed structures, or about the limited capacity of the policy to reform the institutions, the windows of opportunity or sectoriality of the health policies.

Constructions of Care in EU Economic, Social, and Gender Equality Policy: Care Providers and Care Recipients versus the Needs of the Economy?

Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society

The European Union is facing a crisis of care due to demographic shifts, policies aimed at driving up women’s employment while cutting state care expenditures, and marketizing public care provisions. This article combines feminist political economy approaches to reproductive labor as an essential part of the economy with theories of care ethics to explore the European Union’s role in deepening this crisis. It concludes that the European Union fails to recognize the importance of care or address it holistically and is more preoccupied with the potential impact on public finances than finding a solution to the care crisis.