Ethnomorality of Care

This book is a highly original exploration of the complex negotiations of moral and practical issues faced by transnational families with ageing relatives. Through the skillful analysis of the multifaceted interrelations of beliefs, intended actions and actual practices of care we get a better understanding of the moral, relational and political challenges to local, national and transnational care arrangements. Ethnomorality of Care provides a much needed cohesive perspective in times of ageing migrating societies. Bernhard Weicht is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Innsbruck and the author of The Meaning of Care. This excellent and fascinating book breaks new intellectual ground developing the concept of the ethnomorality of care to extend understanding of what Polish families think about, intend to do about and actually do about the care of ageing family members in the context of high rates of outward migration and low levels of state provision for elder care. Based on an ambitious research design composed of surveys, indepth interviews and ethnogaphic observations spanning Poland and the UK, Radziwinowiczówna, Rosińska-Kordasiewicz and Kloc-Nowak offer the reader a rich body of data, which is presented in an eminently readable manner. Their insightful analysis will have resonance beyond Poland, particularly in other Central and Eastern European countries experiencing similar challenges related to rapid population ageing, high rates of emigration and social and economic transition. Majella Kilkey is Reader in Social Policy at the University of Sheffield and editor of Family Life in An Age of Migration and Mobility. Global Perspectives through the Life Course. The authors of this study are after a[n] all-encompassing analytical concept, one that captures ‘care as outstretched between lived social norms defined in moral terms (moral beliefs), care intentions and actions (care arrangements)’. For this purpose, they have devised a new term, the ‘ethnomorality of care’ … By exploring the ethnomorality of care in two communities □– the provincial Polish towns of Końskie and Kluczbork –□the authors sought to assess how well their members were able to put into practice the types and level of care presented as ideal. The inhabitants of these communities overwhelmingly declared their support for care by – and within – families. However as the authors discovered, changing economic and social conditions, such as deindustrialisation, increased female labour force participation and migration, challenged families’ ability to adhere to this norm, despite paying lip service to it. Sonya Michel is Professor Emerita at the University of Maryland and editor of Women, Migration, and the Work of Care: The United States in Comparative Perspective and Race, Ethnicity and Welfare States: An American Dilemma? Book review appeared in the International Journal of Care and Caring.