Social citizenship between universalism and local practices: care services in Southern Europe at times of neoliberal austerity

Marisol García Cabeza and Dina Vaiou

Chapter 8 in The Value of Place, 2025, pp 113-127 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Publicly provided social services, understood as the basis of the notion of ‘social citizenship’, and care services in particular have undergone significant changes over the last thirty-five years. These changes present different ‘mixes’ of involvement among the family, the state, the third sector, and the market. This chapter problematizes the quality of national social citizenship in relation to the deployment of social services in Southern European countries, where the family has historically been responsible for the care of its young, old, and disabled members. De- and re-familization of care in the weakening of universalism, in Martinelli's terms, capture the essence of recurrent restructurings through times of crisis and neoliberal austerity in different places of the European South. Among these restructurings, care for older people has become particularly significant, in academic and public debate, as well as in policy considerations, in view of the rapidly ageing population. We look closely at care for older people in different places and examine how various combinations of financial support, service providers, governance levels, and the availability of both paid and unpaid women's work address the growing needs and increasing numbers of social service users. Our chapter explores the evolving nature and future of social citizenship between universal ideals and local practices.

Keywords: Social citizenship; Care for elderly people; Women careers; Social services; Southern European welfare regimes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035347919
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