MISRECOGNITION and MALDISTRIBUTION : THE CASE OF AGED CARE WORKERS

1. MISRECOGNITION and MALDISTRIBUTION: THE CASE OF AGED CARE WORKERS Society of Heterodox Economics (IAFFE Stream), December 2 2013

2. This paper… • uses the concept of recognition - the acknowledgement of particular others and their contribution to shared projects – in an analysis of the pay and working conditions of aged care workers. • Is co-authored with Therese Jefferson, Rhonda Sharp, Rachel Ong, Gill Lewin and Valerie Adams

3. Misrecognition features in historical writing: John Adams 1790 “He feels himself out of the light of others, groping in the dark. Mankind takes no notice of him; he rambles and wanders unheeded. In the midst of a crowd, at church, in the market, at a play, at an execution or coronation, he is as much in obscurity as he would be in a garret or a cellar. He is not disapproved of, censured or reproached: he is only not seen. This total inattention is to him mortifying, painful and cruel...To be wholly overlooked and to know it are intolerable...To feel ourselves unheeded chills the most pleasing hope - damps the most fond desire - checks the most agreeable wish - disappoints the most ardent expectations of human nature.”

4. The Theory of Moral Sentiments:Misrecognition is a source of harm “The poor man on the contrary, is ashamed of his poverty. He feels that it either places him outside of the sight of mankind, or, that if they take any notice of him, they have, however, scarce any fellow-feeling with the misery and distress which he suffers. He is mortified upon both accounts, for though to be overlooked, and to be disapproved of, are things entirely different, yet as obscurity covers us from the daylight of honour and approbation, to feel that we are taken no notice of, necessarily damps the most agreeable hope, and disappoints the most ardent desire, of human nature. The poor man goes out and comes in unheeded, and when in the midst of a crowd is in the same obscurity as if shut up in his own hovel”.

5. The Theory of Moral Sentiments:Recognition is a source of motivation “Nature, when she formed man for society, endowed him with an original desire to please, and an original aversion to offend his brethren. She taught him to feel pleasure in their favourable, and pain in their unfavourable regard.”

6. The Theory of Moral Sentiments: The desire for recognition is an alternative mechanism for coordinating individuals’ behaviour “The first desire [for approbation] could only have made him wish to appear to be fit for society. The second [the desire of being what ought to be approved of] was necessary in order to render him anxious to be really fit.”

7. However, until recently the topic of recognition has suffered its own invisibility, especially in economics • Brennan and Pettit’s “The Economy of Esteem” includes the concept • But most recent work on recognition has been done by critical theorists: • Axel Honneth (who emphasises the damage done to people’s sense of self by misrecognition) • Nancy Fraser (who emphasises how misrecognition is a status injury, and may contribute to maldistribution)

8. Our Study: An Overview • Uses survey and interview data from the Missing Workers project to examine the experience and impact of misrecognition amongst aged care workers • Produces some findings on the prevalence, manifestations, impacts and sources of misrecognition

9. The Missing Worker Project • Collected info on recognition via a large scale survey and linked interviews with mature-age aged care workers • Survey data from close to 4000 respondents and interview data from 45 participants • Measures of recognition: • “Do you think your work in aged care is valued ‘highly’, ‘moderately’, or ‘not at all’ by: • People in your local community? • Higher level management in your organisation? • Clients? • Family? • “How satisfied are you with your pay, given the importance of your work to society?”

10. Evidence from the survey data • On the Prevalence of Misrecognition. • A substantial number of aged care workers feel misrecognised: • Close to 20% reported feeling ‘not at all’ valued by their local community and by higher-level management • Close to 50% reported that they were ‘not at all’ satisfied with their pay, given the importance of their work to society • On the Impacts of Misrecognition. • Misrecognition threatens the future provision of aged care needs: • Results from a logistic regression analysis of the determinants of intention to leave aged care show that the likelihood of leaving aged care is 33.5% higher among workers who perceive a low level of community recognition; and 50% higher among those who perceive a low level of organisationalrecognition

11. Evidence from the interview data • Misrecognition manifests in inter-personal relationships: • Some of the care workers we interviewed provided examples of how they felt their work roles were invisible in social settings • … I said I’m a nurse, oh yeah, and then they went onto the next, and she said, oh that’s … and no one wanted to hear me. • anddistribution: • Other participants gave examples of how their wages did not acknowledge the value of their contribution to society • “[A] supermarket worker earns more than a carer does. And we literally have people’s lives in our hands.”

12. Evidence from the interview data • On the Impacts of Misrecognition • Misrecognition harms the subjectivity of aged care workers. • Some of the participants spoke of the hurt caused by lack of recognition: • “We work really hard with very little paid for what we do and that I find is frustrating. It really is because it is hurting actually sometimes.” • Consequently, misrecognition undermines the ability of these workers to pursue wage claims. • Several participants provided insights to how misrecognition damaged their sense of their self and their sense of entitlement to higher wages • “I don’t know - am I worth more than a basic wage? I’m not unskilled, I suppose an unskilled worker basic wage would be $18 I would imagine, well I’m a skilled worker – perhaps now I, I should earn more than that – at least $25 perhaps, $25 an hour.“

13. Evidence from the interview data • And a complexity: • The notion that recognition should not be sought for virtuous work places care workers at a disadvantage: • One participant explained how the ‘virtue script’ is sometimes used against aged care workers: • “they’ll try and do the Florence Nightingale trick, ‘she’s here because she loves it.’…[Employers are]“leaning on that sort of devotion…” • Another participant’s comments showed how adopting a virtue script can undermine care workers’ willingness to push for higher wages : • Q: What keeps you in aged care? A: “The love, the love and the old people. It’s got to be there, who’s going to look after them, who’s going to look after these old people? You should see me – I very rarely take a day off, because I think, who’s going to look after them? But I’ve got to stop…”

14. Evidence from the interview data • On the impacts of misrecognition • Low wages (in part due to misrecognition) make it difficult for aged care organisations to attract and retain staff: • “I think you lose good staff, sometimes purely because of financial reasons, which to me is a bit sad…” • Low wages threaten the motivation to provide ‘good’ care: • “But a lot of the people that I’ve come against, the ones that are having to work and having to put up with the conditions and the money, they’re not doing a service to their client, they’re not giving them that, oh gee, didn’t you like the soup today, you know – you know what I mean?”

15. Sketch: part of a framework relating to misrecognition applied to aged care work

16. Misrecognition & Maldistribution in aged care work • Aged care workers’ attempts to claim recognition for their social contributions are sometimes construed as denying the reality of their caring motives

17. Conclusions • Misrecognition is a relevant concept in the analysis of maldistribution and inefficiency in the Australian aged-care sector • Future work will focus on the sources and remedies of misrecognition