Suchergebnisse

For decades, Finland, along with many other European countries, has applied austerity politics in which especially the female-dominated spheres of life, such as long-term care, have been the targets of savings. In this societal context, a hospice focusing on particularly demanding palliative care was at risk of redundancies. The article illustrates how a local regime of truth about the hospice was discursively constructed, supported and contested in an influential Finnish newspaper. A regime of truth is formed when a certain discourse becomes dominant, in this case, the good work done in the hospice and the need for its continuity. The data consist of newspaper articles covering the topic of the redundancies that the hospice was facing. The discourse analysis reveals three main gendered discourses: professionalism, de-medicalisation and de-institutionalisation. Professionalism stems from the masculine field of medicine, and the two latter discourses align with female-dominated long-term care, which are located lower in hierarchies of care.

AbstractThis paper makes a comparison between Finnish and Italian working dual carers. Dual carers have responsibilities simultaneously at two different fronts. The selected Finnish and Italian samples of carers are doing similar care work in different settings. They negotiate care with a variety of actors and under differing circumstances. A care life story has been constructed for each participant. Then these care life stories have been compared with each other, especially at points where the need for negotiation has been evident, at life's various turning points. There are many individual similarities in negotiations performed in Finland and in Italy. However, their divergent contexts create considerable variation.

Challenging the ethics of care as a tradeable commodity, this book introduces the concept of ailment as a framework for understanding social care. Providing examples from Britain and Finland, it demonstrates how ailment shapes all societies, and by addressing the marketisation of care, the authors bring to light increasing inequalities in care.

AbstractMajor societal changes, such as the ongoing climate crisis, and the population ageing, affect the relations between generations within societies. The concept of generational contract is widely used to study these relations. However, the concept is rarely clearly defined, and the contents and terms of the contract, as well as the parties involved remain unclear. This article provides a systematic literature review on the definitions of the concept of generational contract. The literature searches were performed in June 2022 and yielded a total of 502 hits. After applying the exclusion criteria 76 peer‐reviewed research articles were included in the data. The inductive thematic analysis of the articles resulted in nine main components that define the generational contract. These nine components relate to types of contracts, parties involved, distributional issues, maintenance, value‐base and risks. Studies did not problematise the apolitical, gendered and heteronormative nature of generational contracts.

This article compares cash-for-care schemes supporting older people with health-related social care needs, as well as their informal carers, in England and Finland. The meso-level policy analysis drills down into the governance arrangements underpinning cash-for-care schemes, including their eligibility criteria, generosity and territorial variations. It explores their implicit and explicit intentions, function and effects in defamilialising, familialising or refamilialising families' caring responsibilities. This reveals inconsistencies in the familialising and defamilialising effects of schemes according to individuals' characteristics, choices and policy restrictions. It also exposes an overarching tendency to familialise or refamilialise the activity of caring for older people, which is exacerbated by austerity-related politics.

"Deficiencies in old age care are some of the most pressing human rights concerns in mature welfare states. This book radically challenges the ethics of viewing care as a tradeable commodity and introduces a novel framework for understanding and analysing social care through the concept of ailment. Providing examples from the British and Finnish welfare states, it demonstrates how ailment shapes societies from the micro to the macro level. Addressing the marketisation and financialisation of care, the authors bring to light increasing inequalities in care. This book argues that ailment is part of human life and society, and therefore the politics of care should begin with a politics of ailment."--Cover page 4.

As public provision of health and social care to older adults remains fixed or is scaled back, informal care is increasingly emphasised in policy and in practice. This is also the case in the Nordic welfare state of Finland. Little is known about how individual care arrangements are made. In this study, the capability approach is used to investigate the processes from resources to the actual functionings of receiving care of one older informal care recipient across time. The results reveal difficulties, discontinuity and unpredictability that challenge the capabilities to achieve valued beings and doings.

"This book demonstrates how the largely neglected and multifaceted concept of distance can be used as a primary lens to expand and enrich our understandings of what older people say about their lives, needs, and wishes in diverse surroundings in the Northern periphery and beyond. It asks how physical, social and emotional distances shape older people's everyday lives and practices. Contributions from leading experts provides interdisciplinary investigations into the experiences and stories of older people in the Northern periphery. These insights demonstrate the utility of the concept distance when reflecting on the central aspects of contemporary ageing societies. The book explores key themes such as care, age politics, technology, intergenerational relations and migration, providing perspectives that are applicable across a variety of international geographical contexts. This innovative book offers a valuable theoretical and methodological contribution with critical new perspections on ageing in relation to distances. It will be of interest to students and scholars interested in sociology, human geography, health and social care, ageing and gerontological studies, gender studies and Arctic studies"--

In Europe over the last two decades, marketization has become an important policy option in elder care. Comparative studies predominantly adopt an institutional perspective and analyze the politics and policies of marketization. This analysis takes a step back and examines the fundamental ideas underpinning the policies of marketization, using the 'What's the problem?' approach by Carol Bacchi. The central question is how the market was discursively framed as the solution to the perceived problems of three different systems of elder care, and how such processes are similar or different across the three countries. The analysis includes two extreme types of elder care systems, the Nordic public systems in Denmark and Finland, and the Southern European family-based model in Italy. Empirically, the analysis offers interesting insights into processes of constructing and legitimating markets at the level of discourse; this occurs by defining specific problem representations, underlying assumptions and silences. In all three countries, marketization is presented as a solution which builds on rather than challenges dominant ideas of care. Conceptually, in addition to its institutions, it is crucial to understand the ideas behind the marketization of elder care. Ideas emerge as a key leverage for making policies and practices of marketization acceptable and which decision makers and other influential political/societal actors use in policy and public debates. The importance of ideas is further underlined by the fact that they do not necessarily relate to the institutions of elder care systems in a linear way. ; In Europe over the last two decades, marketization has become an important policy option in elder care. Comparative studies predominantly adopt an institutional perspective and analyze the politics and policies of marketization. This analysis takes a step back and examines the fundamental ideas underpinning the policies of marketization, using the 'What's the problem?' approach by Carol Bacchi. The central question is how the market was discursively framed as the solution to the perceived problems of three different systems of elder care, and how such processes are similar or different across the three countries. The analysis includes two extreme types of elder care systems, the Nordic public systems in Denmark and Finland, and the Southern European family-based model in Italy. Empirically, the analysis offers interesting insights into processes of constructing and legitimating markets at the level of discourse; this occurs by defining specific problem representations, underlying assumptions and silences. In all three countries, marketization is presented as a solution which builds on rather than challenges dominant ideas of care. Conceptually, in addition to its institutions, it is crucial to understand the ideas behind the marketization of elder care. Ideas emerge as a key leverage for making policies and practices of marketization acceptable and which decision makers and other influential political/societal actors use in policy and public debates. The importance of ideas is further underlined by the fact that they do not necessarily relate to the institutions of elder care systems in a linear way.

AbstractIn Europe over the last two decades, marketization has become an important policy option in elder care. Comparative studies predominantly adopt an institutional perspective and analyze the politics and policies of marketization. This analysis takes a step back and examines the fundamental ideas underpinning the policies of marketization, using the 'What's the problem?' approach by Carol Bacchi. The central question is how the market was discursively framed as the solution to the perceived problems of three different systems of elder care, and how such processes are similar or different across the three countries. The analysis includes two extreme types of elder care systems, the Nordic public systems in Denmark and Finland, and the Southern European family‐based model in Italy. Empirically, the analysis offers interesting insights into processes of constructing and legitimating markets at the level of discourse; this occurs by defining specific problem representations, underlying assumptions and silences. In all three countries, marketization is presented as a solution which builds on rather than challenges dominant ideas of care. Conceptually, in addition to its institutions, it is crucial to understand the ideas behind the marketization of elder care. Ideas emerge as a key leverage for making policies and practices of marketization acceptable and which decision makers and other influential political/societal actors use in policy and public debates. The importance of ideas is further underlined by the fact that they do not necessarily relate to the institutions of elder care systems in a linear way.