Care in everyday life: an ethic of care in practice

Abstract

This book argues for the importance of care as a value and practice across a range of contexts and relationships. It applies an analysis based in a feminist ethics of care to circumstances in which care has typically been recognised as a key value: eg care for children, for people who are ill or frail, and to circumstance in which its relevance is more rarely considered, eg friendship relationships and stranger relationships. It identifies the significance of care in the context of politics and policy making and offers an imaginary of a social policy based more firmly than is currently the case in political and personal values of care This book addresses care as a practice, a disposition, and a moral, social and political value essential to our capacity to live well together, and to ensure proper treatment for those most likely to experience marginalisation and exclusion. Care has been devalued in contemporary social policy in favour of a rather different set of values – those associated with choice and control. At the same time, both the concept and practice of care within social policy has been stimulated by the work of political philosophers (eg Tronto, 1993, Sevenhuijsen, 1998) who have argued for the necessity of care to social justice. This book challenges the assertion that care is ‘past its sell by date’ (Beresford, 2008). It addresses academics and practitioners who seek to contribute to the development of policies and practices that can enable people to live well together.