Conceptualisations of a care crisis and beyond:context, neoliberalism and a two-dimensional view of care

The feminist literature on care has identified a care crisis in Western societies, focusing especially on liberal welfare regimes. This article provides an overview of the care crisis literature and identifies its biases, with the goal of elaborating a refined concept of a care crisis for eldercare that can be applied beyond the liberal welfare state. This reconceptualisation views the care crisis along two dimensions-(1) the extent and (2) the content of care-and adds attention to context, the state and neoliberal care. The state, in taking responsibility for the governance of care, can formulate political strategies that can either ameliorate or exacerbate the care crisis. This reconceptualisation also refines our understanding of the content of care and its goodness by defining it as good-enough care and elaborating upon its characteristics. My method of theorising is a bricolage that brings together various feminist sources.