The production of “rhythms of responsibility” for childcare in a post-socialist society

Abstract

Provided in this paper is an examination of mundane mobilities that are central to the production of childcare rhythms. We argue that mundane mobilities are produced in the intersections between family and care providers' locations; in time travelling back and forth to childcare provision and through everyday activities with children. These mobilities are further shaped by a reduction in the formal provision of childcare in post-socialist Latvia.Hence, the shape of childcare has changed in post-socialist Latvia and through the 'morally negotiated' responsibilities in informal childcare, there is the emergence of certain rhythms: care in neighbourhoods, travel routines, and everyday walking with children. This paper draws on 32 face-to-face interviews with mothers and care providers which were carried-out in the period 2015-16. Our theoretical contribution builds on geographical and sociological interpretations of mobilities literature with a focus on care and rhythm-analysis, and everyday life. Our applied contribution supports an understanding of how precarity is experienced, and responsibilities negotiated, in families in post-social societies.