Placing care in times of austerity

Abstract

There has been a flourishing of geographical studies of care and caring in recent times. Drawing on a range of new theoretical insights, and driven by questions of who and where in the provision of care, geographers have critically examined the spaces, relations, emotions and politics of caring in contemporary society (Milligan and Wiles, 2010). The evolution of this body of work has shown how the landscape of care is being continually transformed. In recent times, the unfolding phenomenon of ‘austerity’ has once again begun to transform this landscape. This phenomenon has been characterised by significant neoliberal reform of care provision in many countries, involving a programme of financial cutbacks and the adoption of private-sector inspired management in public services and welfare (Clarke, 2012). This latest reform is an ideologically driven ‘step up’ from previous ‘roll-back’ strategies from state-centred collective provision at the end of the twentieth century to a more wholesale withdrawal of the state and an increase in individually-focused packages of care provided by a mix of public, private and third sector organisations. Such a change in state care provision has consequences for individuals, families and supporters, and local organisations. This special issue explores the spaces, places and relations of this new care landscape in a public sector in the grips of austerity, and a concurrent political shift towards individualism and consumption. In doing so, it builds on arguments developed in previous stand-alone papers and special issues in Social & Cultural Geography and other journals (Milligan, 2000; Conradson, 2003a; Milligan, 2003; Parr, 2003; Staeheli and Brown, 2003; Lawson, 2007; McEwan and Goodman, 2010; Milligan and Wiles, 2010; Atkinson et al, 2011; Cox, 2013; Hall and McGarrol, 2013). This special issue is a selection of papers from a session at the Royal Geographical Society Annual Conference 2013, which examined the reconfiguration of care within an era of austerity, in a range of contexts, including Switzerland, Sweden, England and Scotland.

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ORCID for Andrew Power: orcid.org/0000-0002-3887-1050

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