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Care, Austerity and Resistance

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Social Work and the City

Abstract

This chapter considers the city as a crucible of resistance and change in the context of a worldwide care deficit, growing dilemmas in care work and global austerity. The chapter explores new forms of paid and unpaid care work including the contract state and managerialised formal care; migrant care; private pay care; ‘personalisation’; the underground care economy; and unpaid care. The chapter also analyses the possibilities cities provide for resistance and concludes by drawing links between social workers and other care workers in terms of the challenges faced and the need for a broad-based care coalition to promote the rights of those receiving and providing care in the context of austerity and a deepening care deficit.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Social workers are relatively privileged, professionalized care workers, with specialized knowledge, skills and credentials, and with a code of ethics that explicitly recognizes social justice as part of their mandate.

  2. 2.

    Social work is a highly contested field with mixed historical origins reflecting larger ideological differences about social obligation and care. These divisions are still in place, leading to competing schools of logic assigning responsibility for making changes for individuals, collective society or both (see Carniol 2010 or Lavalette 2011).

  3. 3.

    ‘Service user’ is the term currently preferred in social service work. It is used in this chapter as a generic term for those seeking services from state-run or contracted-out services, including health, long-term care, voluntary services, social work and so on.

  4. 4.

    Thanks to Charlotte Williams for suggesting this phrase.

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Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges funding from SSHRC (an MCRI held by P. Armstrong and a CURA held by W. Lewchuk), the work of Carolyn Fram and the contributions of the research participants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Donna Baines

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  1. Donna Baines
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Global, Urban and Social Studi, RMIT University School of Global, Urban and Social Studi, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Charlotte Williams

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Baines, D. (2016). Care, Austerity and Resistance. In: Williams, C. (eds) Social Work and the City. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51623-7_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51623-7_8

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