Home Care for Sale: The Transnational Brokering of Senior Care in Europe

The world of senior care provision and care work is changing rapidly, with brokering agencies for live-in care workers becoming powerful players in reshaping welfare systems, transnational care chains, and working conditions. This volume explores processes of commodification and marketisation, the transnationalisation of care work, the private household as a workplace, and workers' contestation of the live-in care arrangement. It is a must-read for anyone wishing to understand the changes in the political economy of care in the 21st century.

Format: Hardback
Length: 352 pages
Publication date: 21 February 2024
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd

The world of senior care provision and care work is undergoing a rapid transformation. In Europe, brokering agencies for live-in care workers have emerged as influential players in reshaping welfare systems, transnational care chains, and working conditions. This comprehensive volume brings together the latest research on live-in home care for seniors in Europe, exploring various aspects such as commodification and marketization, the transnationalization of care work, the private household as a workplace, and workers' challenges and contestations regarding the live-in care arrangement. Together, these findings shed light on the far-reaching challenges and complexities involved in care provision and care work.

This book is a valuable resource for anyone seeking to understand the changes in the political economy of care in the 21st century. It provides a compelling exploration of the emergence of care brokerage and agency intermediation in Europe, offering a diverse range of examples from different countries and care settings. The authors, a group of esteemed critical analysts, courageously address some of the key contradictions of our current painful social transformation in European terrains.

"Home Care for Sale" offers an encyclopedic account of the commodification and marketization of transnationally-brokered senior home care provision across Europe. It delves into the economic and social inequalities that underpin this new migration industry, as well as the state policies that shape it. The book pays close attention to the collective efforts of workers, advocates, and policymakers to contest and improve conditions of work and care within this evolving landscape.

Overall, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the complexities and challenges of senior care provision and care work in the contemporary world. It provides valuable insights into the emerging trends, dynamics, and inequalities shaping this field, and offers a roadmap for addressing and improving the conditions of care workers and the seniors they serve.

Weight: 670g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781529680140