Who cares and how would you know? Conceptualising ‘doxic’ care

Hughes, Gill

Abstract

This chapter draws from a study which explores the conceptualisations of care in theory and practice, examining (in Pierre Bourdieu’s terms) its ‘doxic’ qualities: that is, how it often seems ‘natural’, ‘self-evident’, or ‘understood without question’. Presenting findings from research with young people and practitioners involved in a programme of activities for young people, Not in Education, Employment and Training provision (‘NEET’), in northern England, the chapter demonstrates how care is often a contested concept for both the carer and the ‘caree’. Care is also undermined by a neoliberal context imbued with a culture of performativity, austerity cuts, and a less tolerant milieu, all of which constrain relational encounters of care. The chapter argues for a lens of ‘contextualised care’, which ensures that staff and young people operate within an arena of negotiated relational care.

Citation

Hughes, G. (2017). Who cares and how would you know? Conceptualising ‘doxic’ care. In J. Horton, & M. Pyer (Eds.), Children, young people and care (26-43). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315686752-2

• Publication Date: Apr 26, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jun 5, 2019
• Publisher: Routledge
• Pages: 26-43
• Series Title: Routledge Spaces of Childhood and Youth Series
• Book Title: Children, young people and care
• Chapter Number: 2
• ISBN: 978-1138920880
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315686752-2
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/1944979
• Publisher URL: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315686752/chapters/10.4324/9781315686752-2