Care Work: Love and Money?

1. Care Work: Love and Money? Julie A. Nelson Global Development and Environment Institute Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA

2. Outline • Love versus Money: The “Commodification” Debate • Insights from Economics and Feminism • Love and money?

3. The “Commodification” Debate Does the presence of money, profit, or markets drain care work of social meaning and authenticity? Is “real care” thus destroyed or endangered?

4. Literature Review “Commodification” is automatic: Arlie Hochschild, Virginia Held, June O’Connell Davidson…and much popular thought Perhaps “contested” or partial commodification is possible: Margaret Jane Radin, Elizabeth Anderson Questioning the “separate spheres” and “hostile worlds” views: Viviana Zelizer, Martha Ertman, this essay

5. “When in the mid-nineteenth century, men were drawn into market life and women remained outside it, female homemakers formed a moral brake on capitalism.” Arlie Hochschild, The Commercialization of Intimate Life (2003)

6. “Other proposals [for raising foster care rates] have often run aground on the argument that paying more would attract parents who were simply in it for the money. 'You don't want a cottage industry of professional foster parents for pay,' Jeffrey Locke, the interim [Social Services] commissioner, said yesterday. (Boston Globe, March 20, 2000)

7. Aesthetic, moral, and spiritual development The creation of emotionally healthy, mutually respectful relations among people Care and concern for the weak and needy Ecological balance and sustainability An exclusive focus on short-term profit Creation of boss/worker relations of oppression and alienation Greed and selfishness A fixation on growth and runaway consumerism

8. Intellectual Roots • Max Weber - iron cage • Jürgen Habermas - colonization of the lifeworld by the system

9. colonization

10. More Intellectual Roots • Karl Marx • Max Weber • Jürgen Habermas • Adam Smith – “System Theory”

11. Economics and Feminism

12. Rationality • Autonomy • Self-Interest • Mind • Market • Money • Emotion • Connection • Other-Interest • Body • Family • Care

13. Feminist Questions • Discrimination in labor markets (prejudice and power) • Families as economic (intra-household allocation and unpaid labor) • Poverty and dependence (bodily needs and care)

14. Rationality • Autonomy • Self-Interest • Mind • Market • Money • Emotion • Connection • Other-Interest • Body • Family • Care

15. Love and Money

16. Refuting “System Theory” • Money is a social construction, not “media” backed by law or gold • Neither law nor competition rules out greed and discrimination — orresponsibility and care— existing alongside attention to profits • Communication and human relations are important in markets and within organizations

17. Refuting “Money = Greed” • Responsibilities for provisioning: A good wage can make it possible for a caring (feeling) person to care (activity). • Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Extrinsic rewards crowd out intrinsic motivations if they are perceived as controlling, but crowd in if they are perceived as acknowledging (Frey).

18. states objectification families irresponsibility businesses Economy (provisioning activities) money greed deliberation responsibility communication subjectivity Society

19. Production of goods and services that support survival and flourishing Creation of employment opportunities Self-support and financial self-responsibility Opportunities for creativity, innovation, and growth in the enjoyment of life Aesthetic, moral, and spiritual development The creation of emotionally healthy, mutually respectful relations among people Care and concern for the weak and needy Ecological balance and sustainability An exclusive focus on short-term profit Creation of boss/worker relations of oppression and alienation Greed and selfishness A fixation on growth and runaway consumerism Passivity about provisioning of goods and services Otherworldliness, with little attention to practical needs or constraints Financial nonresponsibility, leading to dependency Fear of money and power

20. Which teaching is likely to have more positive results? • Economic life is by its nature harsh and ugly. People cannot be responsible when acting in their economic roles in contemporary economies. • Ethical (and caring) behavior is the responsibility of all people and organizations in all activities—including provisioning activities.