Social Policy And The Ethic Of Care

"In this book, Hankivsky considers the implications of this ethic for a range of Canadian social policy issues. Through a series of case studies, she demonstrates the extent to which a care orientation differs from a justice orientation, and provides an alternative normative framework for interpreting, understanding, and evaluating social policy. She reveals why Canadian social policy is lacking and how it could be made more effective and robust by the inclusion of an ethic of care."--Jacket.

Nel Noddings, one of the central figures in the contemporary discussion of ethics and moral education, argues that caring--a way of life learned at home--can be extended into a theory that guides social policy. Tackling issues such as capital punishment, drug treatment, homelessness, mental illness, and abortion, Noddings inverts traditional philosophical priorities to show how an ethic of care can have profound and compelling implications for social and political thought. Instead of beginning with an ideal state and then describing a role for home and family, this book starts with an ideal home and asks how what is learned there may be extended to the larger social domain. Noddings examines the tension between freedom and equality that characterized liberal thought in the twentieth century and finds that--for all its strengths--liberalism is still inadequate as social policy. She suggests instead that an attitude of attentive love in the home induces a corresponding responsiveness that can serve as a foundation for social policy. With her characteristic sensitivity to the individual and to the vulnerable in society, the author concludes that any corrective practice that does more harm than the behavior it is aimed at correcting should be abandoned. This suggests an end to the disastrous war on drugs. In addition, Noddings states that the caring professions that deal with the homeless should be guided by flexible policies that allow practitioners to respond adequately to the needs of very different clients. She recommends that the school curriculum should include serious preparation for home life as well as for professional and civic life. Emphasizing the importance of improving life in everyday homes and the possible role social policy might play in this improvement, Starting at Home highlights the inextricable link between the development of care in individual lives and any discussion of moral life and social policy.

This book argues that the concept of care is a political and a moral concept. As such, it enables us to examine moral and political life through a radically different lens. The editors and contributors to the book argue that care has the potential to interrogate relationships of power and to be a tool for radical political analysis for an emerging critical social work that is concerned with human rights and social justice. The book brings a critical ethics of care into the realm of theory and practice in social work. Informed by critical theory, feminism, intersectionality and post-colonialism, the book interrogates the concept of care in a wide range of social work settings. It examines care in the context of social neglect, interdisciplinary perspectives, the responsibilisation agenda in social work and the ongoing debate about care and justice. It situates care in the settings of mental health, homelessness, elder care, child protection, asylum seekers and humanitarian aid. It further demonstrates what can be learnt about care from the post-colonial margins, Aboriginal societies, LGBTI communities and disability politics. It demonstrates ways of transforming the politics and practices of care through the work of feminist mothers, caring practices by men, meditations on love, rethinking self-care, extending care to the natural environment and the principles informing cross-species care. The book will be invaluable to social workers, human service practitioners and managers who are involved in the practice of delivering care, and it will assist them to challenge the punitive and hurtful strategies of neoliberal rationalisation. The critical theoretical focus of the book has significance beyond social work, including nursing, psychology, medicine, allied health and criminal justice.

Over the last twenty years, research on feminist care ethics has flourished, and this collection makes a unique contribution to that body of work. Drawing on a wealth of practical experience across eight different disciplinary fields, the international contributors demonstrate the significance of care ethics as a transformative way of thinking across diverse geographical, political, and interpersonal contexts. From an analysis of global responsibilities to a reimagining of care from the perspective of people with learning disabilities, each chapter highlights the necessity of thinking about the ethics of care within policies and practice.

Contributors to this volume demonstrate how the ethics of care factors into a variety of social policies and institutions, and can indeed be useful in thinking about a number of different social problems. Divided into two sections, the first looks at care as a model for an evaluative framework that rethinks social institutions, liberal society, and citizenship at a basic conceptual level. The second explores care values in the context of specific social practices or settings, as a framework that should guide thinking.

An exploration of the moral theory examines the characteristics of the ethics of care, discussing the feminist roots of this moral approach, what is meant by "care," and the potential of the ethics of care for dealing with social issues.

In this wide-ranging book, Marian Barnes argues for care as an essential value in private lives and public policies, considering the importance of care to well-being and social justice and applying insights from feminist care ethics to care work, and care within personal relationships.

Care and women's emancipation have often been seen as opposed. Politicians have begun to look again at the issue of care in the context of new reforms in the welfare state, health care policies and family law. Using concrete examples taken from parental rights cases, health care education and the public health sector. Using concrete examples taken from the practice and discourse of care, those found in parental rights issues, health care education, the family and in the public health sector, Sevenhuijsen argues for revaluation of care from a feminist perspective.