Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T15:23:31.544Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dividing Responsibility for Care: Tracing the Ethics of Care in Local Care Strategies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 December 2020

Tiina Sihto
Tiina Sihto*
Affiliation:
University of Jyväskylä, Finland E-mail: tiina.sihto@jyu.fi
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article analyses local care policies through the lens of the feminist ethics of care. The focus is on the normative understandings regarding care that emerge in local care strategy documents and how these understandings relate with the concept of ‘responsibility’. In this article, strategies published by the municipality of Jyväskylä, Finland, between the years 2008 and 2016, are analysed using Trace analysis. The research questions are: How is the division of responsibility regarding care among different actors constructed in the strategies? How do the roles assigned to these different actors accord with the principles of ethics of care? The findings show that the documents emphasise individual responsibility in managing risks related to old age, as the norms of local societal institutions are largely detached from the principles of ethics of care. The analysis also reveals the absence of gender and human frailty from the care strategy documents. Rethinking the strategies through the lens of the ethic of care would mean reconceptualising responsibility as relational.

Keywords

Careethics of carelocal social policyTrace analysis
Type
Article
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 21 , Issue 2: THEMED SECTION: Policies and practices shaping long-term care: between an inclusivity ethos and service delivery realities , April 2022 , pp. 194 - 209
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahosola, P. and Henriksson, L. (2012) ‘Perhe ja läheiset kuntien vanhuspoliittisissa asiakirjoissa’, Yhteiskuntapolitiikka, 77, 3, 239–52.Google Scholar
Anttonen, A. and Häikiö, L. (2011) ‘Care ‘going market’: Finnish elderly-care policies in transition’, Nordic Journal of Social Research, 2, 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Autto, J. (2016) ‘When policymakers and parents meet political discourses: fields and subject positions in the Finnish debates on children’s day care’, Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society, 23, 1, 94-118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond-Taylor, S. (2017) ‘Tracing an ethic of care in the policy and practice of the Troubled Families Programme’, Social Policy and Society, 16, 1, 131–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burau, V. and Kröger, T. (2004) ‘The local and the national in community care: exploring policy and politics in Finland and Britain’, Social Policy and Administration, 38, 7, 793-810.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, J. (2005) ‘New Labour’s citizens: activated, empowered, responsibilized, abandoned?’, Critical Social Policy, 25 4, 447–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conceptualisation of service production (2015) Vanhuspalvelujen palveluverkkoselvitykseen liittyvä palveluntuotannon ja -mallien konseptointi [The conceptualisation of service production and models related to the elder care service network], Helsinki: Nordic Healthcare Group.Google Scholar
Elomäki, A. (2014) ‘Sukupuolinäkökulman valtavirtaistaminen Suomen valtion hallinnossa 2004–2014: Arvioiva selvitys’, Helsinki: Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.Google Scholar
Fredriksson, S., Hyvärinen, O., Mattila, M. and Wass, H. (2010) ‘The politics of competitive tendering: political orientation and attitudes towards contracting out among Finnish local politicians’, Local Government Studies, 36, 5, 637–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Häikiö, L., Van Aerschot, L. and Anttonen, A. (2011) ‘Vastuullinen ja valitseva kansalainen: vanhushoivapolitiikan uusi suunta’, Yhteiskuntapolitiikka, 76, 3, 239–50.Google Scholar
Hallintosääntö (2018) ‘Lautakuntien tehtävät ja toimivalta § 15’, Jyväskylä: City of Jyväskylä, http://www3.jkl.fi/hakemisto/sivu.php/asia/2825 [accessed 12.02.2019].Google Scholar
Hernes, H. M. (1987) Welfare State and Woman Power: Essays in State Feminism, Oslo: Norwegian University Press.Google Scholar
Hiilamo, H. (2014) ‘Solidarity in a Nordic welfare state: the case of Finland’, in Pessi, A. and Laitinen, A. (eds.), Solidarity: Theory and Practice, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 299-316.Google Scholar
Hoppania, H.-K. (2019) ‘Politicisation, engagement, depoliticisation: the neoliberal politics of care’, Critical Social Policy, 39, 2, 229–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoppania, H.-K., Karsio, O., Näre, L., Olakivi, A., Sointu, L., Vaittinen, T. and Zechner, M. (2016) Hoivan arvoiset, Helsinki: Gaudeamus.Google Scholar
Hyvärinen, O. and Lith, P. (2008) Kilpailuttamisen laajuus ja taustatekijät Suomen kunnissa, Helsinki: Kunnallisalan kehittämissäätiö.Google Scholar
Jolanki, O., Szebehely, M. and Kauppinen, K. (2013) ‘Family rediscovered? Working carers of older people in Finland and Sweden’, in Kröger, T. and Yeandle, S. (eds.), Combining Paid Work and Family Care, Bristol: Policy Press, 53–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Juhila, K. and Raitakari, S. (2016) ’Responsibilization in governmentality literature’, in Juhila, K., Raitakari, S. and Hall, C. (eds.), Responsibilization at the Margins of Welfare Services, London: Routledge, 19–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalliomaa-Puha, L. (2017) ‘Vanhuksen oikeus hoivaan ja omaisolettama’, Gerontologia, 31, 3, 227–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koskinen Sandberg, P. (2016) The Politics of Gender Pay Equity: Policy Mechanisms, Institutionalised Undervaluation and Non-Decision Making, PhD thesis, Hanken School of Economics, https://helda.helsinki.fi/dhanken/bitstream/handle/10138/167165/305_978-952-232-322-4.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y [accessed 15.10.2020].Google Scholar
Kröger, T. (1997) ‘Local government in Scandinavia: autonomous or integrated into the welfare state?’, in J. Sipilä (ed.). Social Care Services: The Key to the Scandinavian Welfare Model, Avebury: Ashgate. 95–108.Google Scholar
Kröger, T. (2011) ‘Retuning the Nordic welfare municipality: central regulation of social care under change in Finland’, International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 31, 3/4, 148–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kröger, T. and Leinonen, A. (2012) ‘Transformation by stealth: the retargeting of home care services in Finland’, Health and Social Care in the Community, 20, 3, 319–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kröger, T., Van Aerschot, L. and Mathew Puthenparambil, J. (2018) Hoivatyö muutoksessa: Suomalainen vanhustyö pohjoismaisessa vertailussa, Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän yliopisto.Google Scholar
Lahikainen, L. and Harni, E. (2016) ‘Yrittäjämäinen ruumis palvelutaloudessa’, in Parviainen, J., Kinnunen, T. and Kortelainen, I. (eds.), Ruumiillisuus ja työelämä, Tampere: Vastapaino, 26–39.Google Scholar
Lähteinen, S. (2004) ‘Paikallisen hyvinvointipolitiikan rakentuminen: konstruktionistinen näkökulma kuntien hyvinvointistrategioihin’, in Kinnunen, E., Lähteinen, S. and Kurkinen, J. (eds.), Kolme näkökulmaa hyvinvointistrategiseen työhön, Oulu: Pohjois-Suomen sosiaalialan osaamiskeskus, 106–86.Google Scholar
Lehto, J. (2000) ‘Different cities in different welfare states’, in Bragnasco, A. and Le Gales, P. (eds.), Cities in Contemporary Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 112–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leitner, S. (2003) ‘Varieties of familialism. The caring function of the family in comparative perspective’, European Societies, 5, 4, 353–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathew Puthenparambil, J. M. (2019) Marketisation of Care within the Nordic Context: Private Care Provision for Older People in Finland, PhD thesis, University of Jyväskylä, https://jyx.jyu.fi/bitstream/handle/123456789/65558/978-951-39-7846-4_vaitos11102019.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y [accessed 15.10.2020].Google Scholar
Meagher, G. and Szebehely, M. (eds.) (2013) Marketisation in Nordic Eldercare: A Research Report on Legislation, Oversight, Extent and Consequences, Stockholm: Stockholm University.Google Scholar
Murray, L. and Barnes, M. (2010) ‘Have families been rethought? Ethic of care, family and ‘whole family’ approaches’, Social Policy and Society, 9, 4, 533–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peeters, R. (2013) ‘Responsibilisation on government’s terms: new welfare and the governance of responsibility and solidarity’, Social Policy and Society, 12, 4, 583–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peeters, R. (2017) ‘Manufacturing responsibility: the governmentality of behavioural power in social policies’, Social Policy and Society, 18, 1, 1–15.Google Scholar
Prime Minister’s, Office (2015) Finland, a Land of Solutions: Strategic Programme of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s Government, 29 May 2015, Helsinki: Government Publication 12/2015.Google Scholar
Pulkki, J. and Tynkkynen, L. K. (2016) “All elderly people have important service needs’: a study of discourses on older people in parliamentary discussions in Finland’, Ageing and Society, 36, 1, 64-78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Regional care services (2008) Seudullisten vanhuspalvelujen strategiset linjaukset vuoteen 2030 ja toimeenpano-ohjelma [Strategic Alignments of Regional Care Services to 2030 and Programme of Implementation], Jyväskylän verkostokaupungin ja Keurusseudun kuntien vanhuspalveluiden kehittämishanke.Google Scholar
Saarinen, A. and Forma, P. (2007) Henkilöstöasioista vastaavien näkemykset yksityisen sektorin roolista kunnallisessa palvelutuotannossa lähitulevaisuudessa, Kunnallistieteellinen aikakauskirja, 35, 188-99.Google Scholar
Service network report (2016) Jyväskylän kaupungin sosiaali- ja vanhuspalvelujen sekä perheiden ennaltaehkäisevien sosiaali- ja terveyspalveluiden palveluverkkoselvitys [Service Network Report on Social and Elder Care Services and Preventative Social and Healthcare Services for Families in the City of Jyväskylä), Helsinki: Haahtela Group.Google Scholar
Service strategy (2010) Sosiaali- ja terveyspalveluiden strategia 2011–13 [Strategy for social and healthcare services 2011–13], Jyväskylä: City of Jyväskylä.Google Scholar
Sevenhuijsen, S. (1998) Citizenship and the Ethic of Care, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sevenhuijsen, S. (2003) ‘The place of care: the relevance of the feminist ethic of care for social policy’, Feminist Theory, 4, 2, 179–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sevenhuijsen, S. (2004) ‘Trace: a method for normative policy analysis from the ethic of care’, in Sevenhuijsen, S. and Švab, A. (eds.), The Heart of the Matter: The Contribution of the Ethic of Care to Social Policy in Some New EU Member States, Ljubljana: Peace Institute, 13–46.Google Scholar
Sevenhuijsen, S. and Švab, A. (2004) ‘Introduction’, in Sevenhuijsen, S. and Švab, A. (eds.), The Heart of the Matter: The Contribution of the Ethic of Care to Social Policy in Some New EU Member States, Ljubljana: Peace Institute, 7–12.Google Scholar
Sevenhuijsen, S., Bozalek, V., Gouws, A. and Minnaar-McDonald, M. (2003) ‘South African social welfare policy: an analysis using the ethic of care’, Critical Social Policy, 23, 3, 299–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sihto, T. (2018) ‘Local childcare policy and the changing gender contract’, International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 38, 1/2, 87–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Social and healthcare reform plan (2016) Keski-Suomen Sote 2020: Keski-Suomen ikäihmisten palvelujen järjestämissuunnitelma vuonna 2020 [Social and Healthcare Reform in Central Finland 2020: Plan for Organising Services for Older People in Central Finland in 2020], Jyväskylä: City of Jyväskylä.Google Scholar
SotkaNet (2019) Results table, https://sotkanet.fi/sotkanet/en/taulukko/?indicator=s3b3iDey1jW0NjaytsiINzS11jUBAA==&region=szbMsbaIAgA=&year=sy4rt7bQ0zUEAA==&gender=t&abs=f&color=f&buildVersion=3.0-SNAPSHOT&buildTimestamp=201802280718 [accessed 06.09.2019].Google Scholar
Suomen yrittäjät (2015) Palveluseteli – Tehoa ja joustoa: Selvitys 30 suurimman kunnan palvelusetelikokemuksista, Helsinki: Suomen yrittäjät.Google Scholar
Trnka, S. and Trundle, C. (2014) ‘Competing responsibilities: moving beyond neoliberal responsibilisation’, Anthropological Forum, 24, 2, 136–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tronto, J. (1993) Moral Boundaries: A Political Argument for an Ethic of Care, New York and London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Tronto, J. (2013) Caring Democracy: Markets, Equality, and Justice, New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Vaara, E., Sorsa, V. and Pälli, P. (2010) ‘On the force potential of strategy texts: a critical discourse analysis of a strategic plan and its power effects in a city organization’, Organization, 17, 6, 685–702.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welfare plan (2014) Ikäystävällinen Jyväskylä: Ikäihmisten hyvinvointisuunnitelma 2014–16(–20) (Age-friendly Jyväskylä: welfare plan for the aged 2014–16(–20)), Jyväskylä: City of Jyväskylä.Google Scholar
Ylöstalo, H. (2012) Tasa-arvotyön tasa-arvot, Tampere: Tampere University Press.Google Scholar