Family and State Responsibility for Care for Older People

The chapter investigates how care duties and care rights and their reciprocal interaction have developed in European welfare states. The authors find that the idea of care as a social right has increasingly become the dominant paradigm. On the basis of their review of the development of state intervention in long-term care, the authors observe a trend toward universalism in many countries, although this has partially reversed due to financial constraints and limitations in the public provision of high-quality care. In addition, the analysis highlights a shift toward the extension of welfare state support for care by family members, which has problematic social consequences, since these policies may lead to the persistence of gender inequality and social inequality. In the final section, the authors introduce some reflections regarding the tensions concerning the state-family nexus in the future.