Um-Care

Care work – the act of taking care of household tasks, child-rearing, caregiving, friendships, and social and global interactions – is essential to the system and should be placed at the center of economic theory and practice. The authors criticize an economic system that ignores this unpaid sector and an economy that still revolves around what affluent individuals can afford. They argue that this way of thinking must change and use care work and nature as a starting point for sustainable economic practices. The focus is on how eight billion people can coexist well in the vulnerable habitat of Earth. Ecosystems are becoming unbalanced, which future generations will depend on for their existence. A large portion of the population contributes over twelve billion hours of unpaid care work daily – while in 2017, only eight individuals owned more than the poorer half of the world's population. Sixty short texts by the two experts in care economics – sometimes soberly analytical, sometimes humorous, sometimes optimistic, always enlightening – illustrate how and where solutions to this strange disorder can be found, making a livable future for all conceivable.