Rethinking job satisfaction in care work: looking beyond the care debates

Gail Hebson, Jill Rubery and Damian Grimshaw
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Gail Hebson: Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK
Jill Rubery: Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK

Work, Employment & Society, 2015, vol. 29, issue 2, 314-330

Abstract: Studies of care workers frequently reveal relatively high levels of job satisfaction despite poor employment conditions. The rewarding nature of care work, altruistic motivations and gendered social norms have all been used to explain why subjective job satisfaction is high despite poor pay and terms and conditions. Using data collected in case-study research with domiciliary and residential care workers, this article offers a new direction for care worker research that contextualizes the taken-for-granted assumption that care workers tolerate poor pay and conditions because women find the work satisfying and intrinsically rewarding. The article draws on cultural analyses of class to offer an alternative framework that identifies the wider social processes that can shape care workers’ job satisfaction.

Keywords: Bourdieu; capital; care work; habitus; job satisfaction; women’s work orientations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:29:y:2015:i:2:p:314-330

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