From carewashing to radical care: the discursive explosions of care during Covid-19

Abstract

Care, in all its permutations, is the buzzword of the moment, its meanings draining away in its constant evocation. Here, we briefly expand on older and newer meanings of care in the wake of Covid-19. These include the increasingly blurred boundaries between what has been traditionally understood as "care work" versus "essential work"; desperate attempts by corporations to promote themselves as 'caring'; and the adoption of reactionary rather than progressive models of 'care' by populist leaders such as Trump, Johnson, and Bolsonaro. We then argue that we are in urgent need of a politics that recognises our mutual interdependence and vulnerability. Rejecting the extensive carelessness so evident today, our model of 'universal care' calls for inventive forms of collective care at every scale of life. We envisage a world in which genuine care is everywhere-from our most intimate ties to our relationship with the planet itself.

A Macromarketing Prescription for Covid-19: Solidarity and Care Ethics

“…In many countries, the current pandemic seemingly activated a care-focused response from public policymakers. However, these policymakers’ rhetoric often sidestepped a care-centered public and social policy built around a care-centered intervention system (Chatzidakis et al 2020). Although care ethics focuses on justly distributing caring tasks across society, these policymakers frequently allocated pandemic-related care disproportionately to privileged citizens, further disenfranchising historically underserved groups (Chatzidakis et al 2020; Scott et al 2020).…”

“…However, these policymakers’ rhetoric often sidestepped a care-centered public and social policy built around a care-centered intervention system (Chatzidakis et al 2020). Although care ethics focuses on justly distributing caring tasks across society, these policymakers frequently allocated pandemic-related care disproportionately to privileged citizens, further disenfranchising historically underserved groups (Chatzidakis et al 2020; Scott et al 2020). Care ethics and justice intertwine because “considerations of justice arise from within the practice of care itself and therefore are an important part of the ethic of care” (Bubeck 1995, p.21).…”

Refusal as Radical Care? Moving Beyond Modern Industrial Agriculture

“…It is important to distinguish such radical care from care-work in its many exploitative forms that have become more pronounced in the COVID-19 pandemic (Chatzidakis et al 2020 ; Welch 2021 ). Care can for example be ‘used to coerce subjects into new forms of surveillance and unpaid labour, to make up for institutional neglect, and even to position some groups against others, determining who is worthy of care and who is not’ (Hobart and Kneese 2020 : 2).…”

Who Are We Listening to? The Inclusion of Other-than-human Participants in Design

“…The feminist tradition of care ethics points out the moral, political, and uneven nature of caregiving work performed between humans [8,41]. When it comes to growing food, Vandana Shiva notes that "the creativity, innovation, and decision-making power of women (who still produce 80 percent of the world's food) has significantly driven the world's biodiversity.…”