Book review

How does society collectively envision what ‘old age’ looks like, and what does this vision mean for how we plan for, support and conceptualise care? This book explores the concepts and practices of care in relation to what Higgs and Gilleard describe as the social imaginary of the fourth age: a collective representation of later life composed of those elements most feared about ‘extreme’ older age, namely, physical and cognitive decline, infirmity, and, ultimately, failure.

No relationships last longer than connections between parents and children, particularly in the era of ever-growing life expectancy. Low fertility and the small number of siblings mean that modern families include fewer members of the same generation and more of a previous one, recasting the balance of exchange between parents, children and grandchildren in terms of space, money and time/care. This book presents and discusses the key findings of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), focusing on intergenerational relations.

Widespread injustice in care work means that sacrifice has not been a cherished norm in the ethics of care. Inge van Nistelrooij contests this thinking in her new book, where she contemplates how sacrifice might constitute care in valuable ways, and how it is a hermeneutically useful metaphor for conceptualising care.

In Imagining care: Responsibility, dependency, and Canadian literature, Amelia DeFalco explores the ways in which both fictional and personal-biographical Canadian narratives can enhance our understanding of the thorny issues associated with care – the dangers, liabilities and contradictions that often inhere in caregiving efforts and relations of care.

It is well understood in Grayson’s book that the programmatic advice promised by its title stands or falls on another question being satisfactorily answered: why be a great employer for working carers? This is duly addressed right at the beginning.

Weicht’s latest book represents a profound reflection on informal care for elderly people from a social-constructivist perspective – a reflection that also provides a thorough account of gendered practices, power relations and contextual constraints in how care norms, practices and relationships are discursively constructed. 

Gender equality is at the centre of government policy agendas around the world. Boosting women’s labour force participation is seen as the key to economic growth and human development in developing economies, and as an important way of managing ageing population crises in advanced welfare states. Yet, there is scant recognition, especially in developing countries, of the significance of care responsibilities in shaping women’s participation in the labour market.

This book focuses on caregiving in the US, where, as elsewhere, family carers are the primary source of long-term care; one estimate presented is that 43 million people in the US are carers of people aged 50 years and over. Most family carers are providing support to adults with chronic illness.

Reviews the book "Children Caring for Parents With Mental Illness: Perspectives of Young Carers, Parents and Professionals," by Jo Aldridge and Sarah Becker.

The article reviews the book "Down's Syndrome and Dementia: A Resource for Carers and Support Staff," 2nd edition, by Karen Dodd, Vicky Turk and Michelle Christmas.