Socializing Care - (Feminist Constructions) by Maurice Hamington & Dorothy C Miller (Hardcover)

About the Book

Contributors to this volume demonstrate how the ethics of care factors into a variety of social policies and institutions, and can indeed be useful in thinking about a number of different social problems. Divided into two sections, the first looks at care as a model for an eva...

Book Synopsis

Contributors to this volume demonstrate how the ethics of care factors into a variety of social policies and institutions, and can indeed be useful in thinking about a number of different social problems. Divided into two sections, the first looks at care as a model for an evaluative framework that rethinks social institutions, liberal society, and citizenship at a basic conceptual level. The second explores care values in the context of specific social practices or settings, as a framework that should guide thinking.

Review Quotes

Socializing Care brings together over twenty years of scholarship in feminist ethics and social and political theory, and takes it in important new directions. The essays challenge us to rethink classical liberalism and its focus on autonomy and rights. There is a call for a fuller account of what it is to be a person, a citizen, and a government. Sensitive to the dangers of a paternalistic state, these essays insist that care is part of the proper role of the state, and provide a rich array of examples from which to learn.

Socializing Care is a vibrant example of how feminist philosophy can come to life as social policy with care at the center. A fabulous collection of essays that shows not only the intelligence, but the practicality of feminist care ethics.

A superb collection promoting the use of care perspectives to extend and enhance work in the area of applied ethics and social and political thought, Socializing Care clearly demonstrates the difference this important theoretical perspective makes. The collection provides both local and global perspectives on the role of care in the public domain, and is sure to enrich and enliven debates about the value and relevance of care ethics.

Finally, a serious, interesting and thought-provoking discussion of care and caregiving by serious scholars. Socializing Care will be of interest to all human service professionals who have struggled with their identity as "professional caregivers" (AKA "women's work") and other dilemmas associated with professional caregiving. Hamington and Miller locate the discussion of care at the nexus of private (family-based) caregiving responsibilities and public legal obligations. This analysis will be a welcome addition to the human service literature and an important resource for future professional caregivers.

About the Author

Maurice Hamington is assistant professor of philosophy at University of Southern Indiana. Dorothy C. Miller is Director, Center of Women and Visiting Associate Professor, Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University.