Social care

Abstract

It may be asserted that, with rare exceptions, we are all both receivers of care and givers of care. This assertion points us towards some of the issues involved in identifying social care policies. First, there are many situations in which care is not seen as a public issue that calls for public policies. In this respect caring occurs in many contexts as a private concern, given and received in the context of human bonds and relationships. Second, where social care is seen as a public issue it is very often in a context in which various policies intersect, many of which may not be seen as ‘social care’ policies. Third, notwithstanding the ubiquitous character of care issues expressed in the opening sentence above, there are marked variations in the extent to which there is a need for care. These variations depend upon individual circumstances but are particularly affected by where people are in the life course. Consequently, following further exploration of the private and public nature of care, care at different life stages will provide the organizing framework of the discussion in this chapter. Given the universality of care as an issue, it is important to recognize that there are dimensions that may be regarded as private concerns or problems, which are significant for specific individuals but not matters for the public agenda. These may be quite specific to the individuals themselves, or they may be problems shared with others. Gusfield (1981) makes a distinction between ‘social problems’ and ‘public problems’, drawing attention to the processes that are necessary to put issues on the public agenda.