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‘I Don't Think they were Clapping for Me’: Home Care Workers during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Authors: Read, R.

Pages: 147-175

DOI: 10.4324/9781003454137-8

Abstract:

This chapter explores the ways in which the pandemic and Brexit have exposed and intensified long-term crises within social care provision in England. I focus on home care workers who provide care to older, disabled, and chronically ill people in their own homes. First, I examine how gender, class, and race hierarchies have been historically embedded within home care work, reproducing it as a low-status, low-wage occupation within post-World War Two welfare capitalism in the UK. I then focus on a case study of home care workers in southern England during 2020–2021, examining the impact of the pandemic emergency on their working conditions and experiences.

Source: Scopus