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

Abstract

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.