Care Work and the Politics of Interdependence

Although it has long been a central part of aging studies, care work is finally being attended to in the popular political imagination in the United States due to COVID-19 and the larger challenge of providing long-term care for a growing population of older adults. In its ongoing study of the labor of care, the humanistic study of old age must address the centrality of the “care economy” to the current moment of capitalism and the structures, forces, and practices that exploit care workers and inevitably produce what has been termed the “care crisis.” This chapter reconsiders care using tools from the field of the political economy of aging. It situates the current “care crisis” in the longer history of care work, one characterized by the exploitation of a racialized and gendered workforce. It concludes by proposing the potential of a radical care politics built on our interdependence to improve the lives of older people, care workers, and society as a whole.