Whose ethics of care? The geographies of live‐in elder care in China

Abstract

AbstractReflecting on different theoretical premises within geographies of care, this paper develops their connections and responds to the normativity and universalism in care literature through conceptualising live‐in elder care (LEC). Considering the relationality of differential contributions to care, we propose a conceptualisation of multiple interrelated approaches by: (1) extending the critical frameworks of care to understand the broader frames of institution, market, and morality in mediating interpersonal connectedness of elder care; (2) thinking care relationally, we challenge the dominant conceptualisation of care and power as unidirectional flows and elder care relationships as a receiver–giver dyad; (3) emplacing care, we focus on the actual conditions of care through which ethics are assembled in their geo‐historical context; (4) treating care as grounded, we centre voices from both older people and LEC workers and how ethics of care are comprehended in the everyday rather than prescribed for commodified care. Our thematic analysis starts with a commodification process where LEC is negotiated in tensions; yet moving beyond arguments around systems of dominance and ideal ethics of care, findings show LEC also creates a space of care where LEC workers and older people constantly negotiate norms, boundaries, and care as a relational process. Conceptually, this paper recognises the role of power in shaping the market and intimate relationships of elder care by elaborating on the inequities of age, gender, and place (not just gender). Moving beyond critiques, this paper emphasises the entangled and relational nature of care as grounded in a series of everyday concerns and resistance, where ethics of difference are negotiated and a cultural‐historical configuration of care still perpetuates in its locale. Finally, this paper speaks to the active yet overlooked role of age and ageing in constructing an ethics of care.