Care and State

Care poses challenges for states around the world, as can be seen in healthcare and public childcare during the pandemic, elder care in ageing societies, and transnational care migration. While both state and care are discussed extensively in the social sciences, the literatures devoted to each tend to see them as separate ¿ or even opposed ¿ objects of research and teaching. This class brings together the two bodies of scholarship and focuses on their intersection. Topics will be: How are ideas about state care responsibilities formed, appropriated and translated into practice? How do citizens shape state configurations in negotiations of care responsibilities? Who is understood as deserving care in what situation? The answers will allow us to develop an understanding about how care negotiations shape contemporary state configurations with important consequences for diverse inequalities.