Domestic privacy and the impact of geographical disparities: Spatial aspects of care work in post-Fordist capitalism—and in a ‘caring society’
摘要
The fact that unpaid care work is mainly performed inside private homes allows for intimate care relationships to take shape; on the other hand, it entails a higher risk both of the care recipient being neglected and of the caregiver being exploited. An expansion of social services and local networks in support of carers and the promotion of projects of communal living, working and caring appear beneficial, among other things, because these measures limit the privacy of the household without eliminating it. Meanwhile, the overburdening of care capacities in present-day ‘careless capitalism’ entails spatial aspects of a different sort. This is reflected, for instance, in the inadequate provision of counselling services and everyday assistance for people providing care in rural areas; in the over-occupancy of many accommodations in booming cities that impedes ‘care-ful’ care; and in a transformation of the international division of labour as a result of the sharp rise in circular migration of mostly informally employed care workers to (more) affluent destination countries.