Care Loops and Mobilities in Nordic, Central, and Eastern European Welfare States

“How do we care for the young and old? How has this changed from the past? Are they for better or worse? In this exciting new volume, the co-editors offer the latest research on eight Nordic and East European nations. Using the concepts of care loops, stretched care, and care loopholes, the authors explore ways in which state cutbacks, immigration trends, and gender ideology help shape personal choices: to stay home, to work, to cross borders, to get grandma to help raise the kids, or to be that early-retiring carer.”
—Arlie Russell Hochschild is Professor Emerita in the Department of Sociology at University of California, Berkeley, USA, and the author of The Outsourced Self: Intimate Life in Market and co-editor (with Barbara Ehrenreich) of Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy
This edited volume discusses and analyses the impact of neoliberal policies and ideologies on public and private care practices in Nordic, Central, and East European welfare states. Through new conceptualizations of care practices, chapters take the reader directly into the homes, workplaces, and everyday life of urban and rural residents throughout Europe. The book argues that common neoliberal responses to care crises are not about revaluing care but rather a normalization of precarious work as expressed in moving care from public institutions to families within private homes. Featuring contributions from eight countries, chapters contribute to research on gender, care, migration, and welfare policies by discussing how recent developments in global capitalism and neoliberal policies influence welfare policies and care arrangements in post-egalitarian and post-socialist societies in Europe.

Lena Näre is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Her research focuses on care work, migration, transnationalism, aging, and asylum. She is Editor-in-Chief of Nordic Journal of Migration Research and Associate Editor of Global Social Challenges Journal.

Lise Widding Isaksen is Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Bergen, Norway. Her research interests include gender, care, social stratification, migration, and welfare/state politics. She teaches sociology of the family, migration, and the welfare state.