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The Politics of Caregiving: The Professionalisation of Informal Care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

John Bond
John Bond
Affiliation:
Centre for Health Services Research, School of Health Care Sciences, The University, 21, Claremont Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4AA, United Kingdom
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Abstract

This article reviews some of the literature on caregiving from social policy and on professionalisation from sociology. The context of the article is the care of dementia sufferers with particular reference to the role of family and other informal caregivers. The theoretical contributions on informal and formal caregiving have been dominated by the gender order and the professional order to the detriment of other aspects of structure. In the light of these theoretical contributions the article explores the inherent contradiction in society's desire to provide care to dementia sufferers without compromising the position of informal and formal caregivers.

Type
Artilces
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , March 1992 , pp. 5 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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