Migrant and/or Care Workers? Debating the Ethnicization of the Elderly Care Market in Italy and the United Kingdom

Abstract Care marketization has generally supported ethnicization of care work in many countries. While economic and institutional theories have explained how migrants have been included as functional workers, the social inclusion of them in the hosting societies has been largely neglected. Focusing on the role of ideas and public discourse, this article considers through a content analysis of newspaper articles how the role of migrant care workers has been the object of public discussion in two countries characterized by care marketization: Italy and the United Kingdom. It shows how ethnicized care markets have been differently legitimized through distinct social and cultural dynamics