On a conceptual level, care theory deals with the social organization of care situations and the provision of care activities (cf. Jochimsen 2003a; Madörin 2006; Engster 2007). Maren Jochimsen (2003a) describes her draft of a theory of the care economy and economics, calling it “Careful Economics”. She starts from the provision of existential care activities, in particular for children, the elderly, the sick and the disabled, and highlights mutual existential, motivational, and material dependence as well as asymmetry as specific characteristics of care situations. Care theory also faces the conceptual task of “organizing economic institutions and policies so that they provide all individuals with the real opportunity to care adequately for themselves, their loved ones, and human beings in general” (Engster 2007: 118 f.).
Care Glossary
Terms for Caring Societies
