Raw, A orcid.org/0000-0002-5896-4609 and McKie, L (2020) Exploring Women’s Mutuality in Confronting Care-Precarity: ‘Care Accounts’ – a Conceptual Tool. Sociology, 54 (1). pp. 53-69. ISSN 0038-0385
Abstract
Exploring scholarship in reciprocity, gift and gendered social capital, and drawing upon research and analysis across 15 years (2003–2018), this article offers fresh theoretical insights into everyday practices of low-paid women with care responsibilities. Framing women’s pragmatic mutuality in confronting precarity in their care arrangements, we propose the concept of ‘Care Accounts’, articulating a practice of collaborative workplace problem solving. Women lodge and generate good will with colleagues by swapping or extending their shifts to cover for each other; generating capacity and continuity of care across unexpected family events or crises. Systems of reciprocal workplace mutuality – care/work micro-networks – build as women pool their capacity to respond. We highlight, however, an ensnarement effect of Care Accounts, as they further lock women into low paid jobs. We suggest priority attention must be given to the prevalence and urgency of ‘care-precarity’ and the dereliction in care planning that Care Accounts reveal.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019, The Author(s). This is an author produced version of a paper published in Sociology. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Care accounts; Care-precarity; Feminist; Flexibility; Gendered ensnarement; Interdependency; Mutuality; Social Capital; Theory; Women |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Politics & International Studies (POLIS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 16 May 2019 12:57 |
Last Modified: | 24 Feb 2020 16:45 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/0038038519856236 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:146129 |