The Meaning of Care The Social Construction of Care for Elderly People

The Meaning of Care provides a multi-layered analysis and discussion of how we understand and construct care in everyday life; the meanings it has for ourselves, our families, our relationships, our identities, and our sense and understanding of society and what is right and proper. Bernhard Weicht investigates the meaning of care in society through a vast range of social science literature and two empirical case studies, carried out in Austria and the UK, using a critical discourse analysis approach to identify and discuss the moral construction of care and the way in which people understand and make sense of their experiences, histories and emotions. Thematically led-chapters on relationships, geographies of care, community, dependency, and care markets explore several aspects of the meaning of care in detail. This work makes an original contribution to the discussion of the nature of care ethics and its political potential.