This chapter introduces the concept of care and takes stock of current thinking and how care has been addressed by policy. The aim is to offer insights about the diverse origins and wide reach of care as a concept and to identify some strengths and weaknesses as well as fruitful lines of further work. The chapter is organised in three parts which consider in turn: care as a concept, identifying its origins in different literatures and lines of thought: how care has been applied in and by policy and what the analysis of care-related policy reveals about the welfare state and gender cleavages; a critical overview and identification of useful avenues for future research. The chapter demonstrates the popularity and depth of a care lens for understanding developments in a range of spheres, but it also reveals very different roots and tendencies in different approaches to care. It emphasises, therefore, the need to clarify terms and scope when one is using the concept of care and that it is imperative to take stock of how the concept is being used by others, especially as research and policy reform are proceeding rapidly.