From the Commodification to the Corporatization of Care: European Perspectives and Debates

Recent developments in western Europe show that for-profit companies of different sizes, including large multinational firms, are increasingly investing in care and buying significant shares within the ongoing privatization of national health and care systems. Reflecting upon these developments, this article argues that the current reconfiguration of care is driven not only by processes of commodification and marketization but also by complex mechanisms of “corporatization.” To substantiate this argument, we undertake an overview of the transformations in elder and childcare in some European countries and provide a “typology of care” in order to clarify our concept of care corporatization.