Cultures of care: Biographies of carers in Britain and the two Germanies

Description

This work compares the experiences of unpaid family carers in three different welfare systems. It is based on narrative interviews in which carers were invited to speak freely about their caring situation, how it unfolded, what support they had, and what caring meant for their lives. The book investigates the inter-relatedness of the personal and the social, how individual lives are shaped by different social systems, and how individual life-paths are forged, even in the most constrained situations. Its purpose is to bring alive and extend abstract models that are used in comparative social policy by: showing how the social relations of caring are structured within and outside the home environment; using separate analyses of "lived" and "told" stories to highlight personal processes of continuity and change in meeting the challenge of caring; and comparing the case links of individual strategies to the structural features of welfare societies.

Prue Chamberlayne is a Senior Research Fellow at the School of Health and Social Welfare, The Open University. Anette King is a Research Programme Officer at the East Kent Hospitals Trust.

"...a valuable addition for both academic and training debates about social policy in these three different environments." Auto/Biography "... an important and well-written book regarding comparative social policy research." European Journal of Social Work "... compelling and original ... Colleagues who are teaching social policy, research methods, or practice modules relating to adult services, on health and social care courses at both undergraduate and post-graduate level, or indeed colleagues who wish to engage in research with carers, will find this text to be an extemely useful resource." Journal of Interprofessional Care "This book will be of considerable value to all those involved professionally and academically in long-term care issues of any age group." Education & Ageing "This study presents an original - indeed pathbreaking - approach to the comparative study of social policy. It has considerable potential relevance for both policy and practice and will be invaluable for staff teaching social work courses." John Clarke