Care as a practice of radical solidarity: Rethinking the economy

Format

Language: German / English available
Duration: 20 min
online

What’s it about?

This contribution is based on the premise that care must be understood not as a marginal counter-concept to the economy, but as a constitutive dimension of a renewed understanding of the economy, if we are to shape just and sustainable societies. In this context, care refers to a social practice of radical solidarity that is grounded in the inescapable interdependence of human life. A genuine integration of care into economic contexts means bringing issues of care – as well as underpaid, feminised and depoliticised sectors – to the forefront of economic attention, embedding them within organisations, institutions and economic decision-making processes, and making them an integral part of everyday culture. Economic processes are not a neutral or isolated sphere of operation, but rather areas open to shaping through social and democratic negotiation. A care-centred approach challenges dominant standards of efficiency, productivity and autonomy, and steers the economy towards enabling the material, social and temporal conditions for a good life, rather than systematically undermining them.

Aim of this article

To raise awareness of the central role that economic issues and economic thinking play in our society when it comes to shaping it in a more solidarity-based way.