COVID-19, social policy and care: a complex set of processes and outcomes

This article looks at the 2020 period of COVID-19 and especially the first months through the lens of public policy support for care in Europe. It covers the policy responses to both care for young children and frail, ill or disabled adults and develops an understanding of care as welfare-related ac...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Daly, M
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media 2021
_version_ 1797106651221721088
author Daly, M
author_facet Daly, M
author_sort Daly, M
collection OXFORD
description This article looks at the 2020 period of COVID-19 and especially the first months through the lens of public policy support for care in Europe. It covers the policy responses to both care for young children and frail, ill or disabled adults and develops an understanding of care as welfare-related activity focused on practices and resources oriented to meeting care-related need. The article’s over-arching research question centres around how European countries responded to the 2020 pandemic, especially in regard to the types of care need that were recognized, the resources committed, the actors/agency that were supported or taken for granted and the values underpinning the responses. What we find from the review is that, while care assumed a strong place in public rhetoric, this was not reflected in greater public resourcing of care for young children or long-term care. Instead, care for children was refamilialized and long-term care was under-resourced and relegated to a secondary position; both were in many ways rendered further dependent on the private agency of individuals. In sum, the pandemic spearheaded some reversion to old practices and the opportunity to invest in care as a human need, a basis of rights and entitlements and a valued activity was not availed of.
first_indexed 2024-03-07T07:05:34Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:fafc285e-2a77-49b6-8896-802e8f313f47
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-07T07:05:34Z
publishDate 2021
publisher Frontiers Media
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:fafc285e-2a77-49b6-8896-802e8f313f472022-04-22T11:38:34ZCOVID-19, social policy and care: a complex set of processes and outcomesJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:fafc285e-2a77-49b6-8896-802e8f313f47EnglishSymplectic ElementsFrontiers Media2021Daly, MThis article looks at the 2020 period of COVID-19 and especially the first months through the lens of public policy support for care in Europe. It covers the policy responses to both care for young children and frail, ill or disabled adults and develops an understanding of care as welfare-related activity focused on practices and resources oriented to meeting care-related need. The article’s over-arching research question centres around how European countries responded to the 2020 pandemic, especially in regard to the types of care need that were recognized, the resources committed, the actors/agency that were supported or taken for granted and the values underpinning the responses. What we find from the review is that, while care assumed a strong place in public rhetoric, this was not reflected in greater public resourcing of care for young children or long-term care. Instead, care for children was refamilialized and long-term care was under-resourced and relegated to a secondary position; both were in many ways rendered further dependent on the private agency of individuals. In sum, the pandemic spearheaded some reversion to old practices and the opportunity to invest in care as a human need, a basis of rights and entitlements and a valued activity was not availed of.
spellingShingle Daly, M
COVID-19, social policy and care: a complex set of processes and outcomes
title COVID-19, social policy and care: a complex set of processes and outcomes
title_full COVID-19, social policy and care: a complex set of processes and outcomes
title_fullStr COVID-19, social policy and care: a complex set of processes and outcomes
title_full_unstemmed COVID-19, social policy and care: a complex set of processes and outcomes
title_short COVID-19, social policy and care: a complex set of processes and outcomes
title_sort covid 19 social policy and care a complex set of processes and outcomes
work_keys_str_mv AT dalym covid19socialpolicyandcareacomplexsetofprocessesandoutcomes