Karin Schwiter

Neoliberal austerity and the marketisation of elderly care

Taking the recent debate on austerity as a starting point, this paper discusses contradictions in current processes of neoliberalisation using the marketisation of elderly care in Switzerland as an example. Just as in other countries, an austerity rationality in public spending and the neoliberal restructuring of public health services paved the way for the emergence of private suppliers of 24 hours home care. These new agencies hire migrant women from Eastern European countries and sell packaged care services to the elderly. In so doing, they play a key role in reconfiguring care according to a market logic. They shape the working conditions of live-in migrant care workers and the definition of care itself as a marketable good. In our paper, we analyse the strategies of these new corporate intermediaries based on a market analysis and on interviews with their representatives. We argue that the marketisation of elderly care in Switzerland is illustrative of todays neoliberalism in that it combines progressive and regressive aspects and owes its emergence to its ambiguous entanglement with many other discourses. The paper illustrates how the transformation of the home into a new space of commercialised care relies on the production and economic valorisation of social and mobility differentials.

Aversions to the commodification of care: how young Swiss adults plan to organise their future families

Looking at how young Swiss adults anticipate their future families, we find a pronounced discourse of disapproval of any form of commodified childcare. Interviewees in their mid-twenties insist that children should be cared for at home and by their parents. This paper discusses these empirical findings in the light of recent debates on the commodification of care. On the one hand, the idealised notion of the home as a safe haven for children might reinforce existing inequalities in the gendered division of care work by confining women to the home and excluding them from paid labour; on the other hand, the aversion to commodified care can be read as a challenge to the neoliberal model of a universal adult worker which disregards care obligations. In this respect, the discourse of disapproval of commodified care might signify a tentative step towards a new ethic of care.

Stay-at-home fathers on the wane – In comes daddy day! Changing practices of fathering in German-speaking countries

Our commentary brings Boyer et al.’s (2017) argument of a ‘regendering of care’ through men’s growing engagement as caregivers into a dialogue with scholarship from German-speaking countries. This literature supports Boyer et al.’s claim of a connection between labour market opportunities and stay-at-home fatherhood. However, the research from our language context also suggests that fathers who are not gainfully employed do not necessarily become primary caregivers. Furthermore, the number of stay-at-home fathers is shrinking rather than growing. In light of these findings, we suggest shifting the discussion from stay-at-home fathers to fathers as part-time workers and part-time carers. This is where we identify the potential for a subtle revolution that bears the promise of far more wide-ranging changes in the gendering of care.

Zur Konstruktion der 24-Stunden-Betreuung für ältere Menschen in den Schweizer Medien

Der Artikel analysiert die Schweizer Medienberichterstattung zur 24h-Betreuung von 2003–2013. Mittels einer Diskursanalyse identifizieren wir den dominanten Mediendiskurs eines boomenden Marktes, der Agenturen kritisiert, BetreuerInnen viktimisiert und die Betreuung in den eigenen vier Wanden idealisiert. In der Diskussion analysieren wir die blinden Flecken des medialen Diskurses. Wir hinterfragen die These des 24h-Betreuungs-Booms, beleuchten die Schattenseiten der Betreuung daheim und thematisieren die Verantwortung der Familie als Arbeitgeberin. nThis article analyses Swiss media coverage of 24 hours care between 2003 and 2013. Based on a discourse analysis we observe that the dominant media discourse speaks of a booming market that criticises agencies, victimises carers and idealises home care. In our discussion we analyse these results with a focus on the so-called blind spots of this media discourse. In particular, we challenge the claim of a boom in 24h care, shed light on the negative aspects of home care, and address the ignored responsibility of the family as employer.

Auf dem Weg in den Arbeitsmarkt. Junge Erwachsene im Spannungsfeld zwischen Individualität und Geschlechternormen

Wenn junge Erwachsene uber ihr Leben und ihre Zukunftsvorstellungen erzahlen, so basieren ihre Schilderungen auf der Vorstellung von Individualitat. Weil Menschen verschieden sind, argumentieren sie, sollen sie ihre passenden Lebenswege selber wahlen konnen. Das Leben wird damit zum frei gestaltbaren Projekt, welches Frauen ebenso wie Manner selbstverantwortlich planen durfen und auch mussen. Der Aufsatz reflektiert das Spannungsfeld zwischen diesem Planungsanspruch und der wahrgenommenen Unabsehbarkeit der Zukunft. So verandern sich Arbeitswelten in den Augen der jungen Erwachsenen so schnell, dass die zukunftigen Konsequenzen heutiger Entscheidungen kaum abschatzbar sind. Die Vorstellung frei gewahlter Lebenswege steht zudem in einem zweiten Spannungsfeld mit fortbestehenden Geschlechternormen. Dem eingeforderten Recht, individuell zu sein, stehen implizite Annahmen gegenuber, welche Tatigkeiten fur Frauen und welche fur Manner „passen“. Der Beitrag diskutiert die Vorstellung von Individualitat und Wahlfreiheit als widerspruchlichen und gleichzeitig machtvollen Diskurs, der das Selbstverstandnis junger Erwachsener und die Logik ihrer Lebensplanung formt. Er zeigt auf, wie diese diskursive Konstruktion die Verantwortung fur gesellschaftliche Probleme dem Individuum zuweist und diese zu Problemen der Selbstsorge umdefiniert - gleichzeitig aber auch Spielraume eroffnet, um von tradierten Lebenswegen abzuweichen und Geschlechternormen zu durchbrechen.