Eva Feder Kittay
dependency work and the social division of care
pp. 628-643
in: Fran Collyer (ed), The Palgrave handbook of social theory in health, illness and medicine, Berlin, Springer, 2015Abstract
Having been long ignored, care has finally become a key critical concept in contemporary social theory. This chapter reviews the emergence of sociological theories of care and the disputes and controversies that have accompanied them. It is focused on an exploration of the approach to care as a relationship of power, introduced by the philosopher Eva Feder Kittay. Her contribution needs to be understood in the context of broader debates about care and the division of labour, both of which have their origins in the awaking of interest in care associated with feminism and the contested viewpoints of disability activists.