Placing care in times of austerity

Abstract

The concept of care and its associated practices remain a key subject of debate in human geography, as they continue to evolve in response to changing norms and expections of who does and should provide care, how, and where care takes place. With the growing politics of austerity shaping welfare and support provision across the Global North, these norms and expectations are once again being reviewed and reconfigured. New spaces and relationships of care are unfolding, as austerity intensifies many debates over the role of the state vis-avis the private, informal and third sectors. This paper examines the changing geographies of care that are unfolding within this context of austerity and frames a collection of papers on this subject. It offers a short review of the concept of care in the discipline of geography before examining the shifting landscapes of care provision overtime. It considers where these new spaces of care are unfolding. After identifying the boundaries of this scholarship, it then outlines the key themes within and across the four papers in this special issue. Placement des soins en temps d'austérité RÉSUMÉLe concept des soins et des pratiques qui y sont associées restent un sujet clé de débat en géographie humaine, au fur et à mesure qu'ils continuent d'évoluer en réponse aux changements des normes et des attentes de qui fournit ou devrait fournir les soins, de comment et où se déroulent les soins. Dans un climat grandissant de politique d'austérité en ce qui concerne l'aide sociale et les apports de soins dans les pays du Nord, ces normes et attentes sont encore une fois en train d'être révisées et réaménagées. De nouveaux espaces et rapports de soins se développent, tandis que l'austérité intensifie beaucoup de débats sur le rôle de l'Etat vis-à-vis des secteurs privés, non-officiels et tertiaires. Cet article examine les géographies changeantes des soins qui se déroulent dans le contexte de l'austérité et réunit une collection d'articles sur le sujet. Il propose une courte revue du concept de soins dans la discipline de la géographie avant d'examiner les paysages changeants de l'apport de soins dans le temps. Il considère où ont lieu ces nouveaux espaces de soins. Après avoir identifié les limites de cette étude, il présente ensuite les grandes lignes des thèmes clés dans et à travers les quatre articles de ce numéro spécial. Situando al concepto de cuidado en tiempos de austeridad RESUMENEl concepto de cuidado y las prácticas asociadas al mismo siguen siendo un tema clave de debate en la geografía humana, ya que continúan evolucionando en respuesta a las cambiantes normas y expectativas de quién hace y debería proporcionar cuidado, y de cómo y dónde se lleva a cabo dicho cuidado. Con la creciente política de austeridad que moldea el bienestar y la provisión de apoyo en todo el Norte Global, estas normas y expectativas están nuevamente siendo revisadas y reconfiguradas. Se están desarrollando nuevos espacios y relaciones de cuidado, ya que la austeridad intensifica muchos debates so...

Troubling institutions

“…Defining the carceral and tracing its micro‐ and macro‐scale experiential components has recently preoccupied geographers (Moran et al., ), with some pursuing an activist approach seeking to dismantle these punitive institutional networks of control (Hamlin & Speer, ). Concurrently, however, just as these institutions have been troubling us, they have become increasingly troubled themselves, for instance by austerity (Power & Hall, ). Furthermore, institutions are themselves increasingly troubled by the changing and expanding populations they are expected to work with; the recent political and public debate in the USA over separating and incarcerating children indicates institutions are grappling with legitimacy and morality (Fausset, ).…”

“…Trouble ensues in the uneasy relationship between the two that reach from the institutional macro‐level of managerial organisation to the micro‐level of individual experiences. Power and Hall () note an increasing number of geographical studies that explore care and caring, highlighting a decentralisation and relocation of care as precarious and troubled. By unpacking the political significance of care (Tronto, ) in the context of institutions we argue that a simultaneous investigation of control is necessary to understand its actualisations.…”

Care and caring: An ecological framework

“…Recent research documents, for particular services, how closure or reduction has led to care taking place in new circumstances, sometimes involving more informal carers and sometimes finding new sources of care in apparently unlikely places – for example allotments, cafes, museums (Munro, ; Power & Bartlett, ; Power & Hall, ). Power and Hall comment: “Underpinning these ordinary and unconventional spaces of care are delicate and precarious networks of support from advocates, community allies, volunteers and friends” (, p. 8). While recognising that such moves may not create new political possibilities (Youdell & McGimpsey, ), we need to search out their potential to suggest new ways of caring that put those cared for in more powerful positions and that may result in further, positive changes to carescapes and caringscapes.…”

‘Hopeful adaptation’ in health geographies: Seeking health and wellbeing in times of adversity

“…Many of the values of solidarity and tolerance that for a time seemed more guaranteed in Anglo--American countries have also been eroded, prompting some to decry the dissolution of liberal governance (Speed and Mannion, 2017). Ideologically--driven decisions to pursue austerity have transformed the landscape of public institutions over the last decade with a ferocious agenda of public sector cuts, particularly across Western Europe, prompting accounts of a post--welfare crisis (DeVerteuil, 2015;Power and Hall, 2018).…”