Relations de care, affects et dominations: Le care à demeure à Buenos Aires

Abstract

Homecare entails the caregivers continuous presence and full availability to an older adult who is generally very ill or senile. The creation of bonds and the development of affections are strongly related to multiple constraints that are put on and by these forms of employment. Even though the relationships with older adults, isolated from the outside world, play a major role in the accounts given by female workers, they are also closely linked to the relationships with other people, in particular with the employers´ children. The present article, written from the caregiver´s point of view, analyzes these relationships and their interdependences in order to understand the power and domination issues that occur within them. These relationships, which are likewise related to work, feelings and domination, activate affections that are released in the context of care and based on power issues. Affections and duties allow female workers to strengthen their positions, to protect themselves from the harmful effects of the job and to construct a friendly self-image, yet they also represent a powerful form of oppression.