Caring Democracy (PDF)

Americansnow face a caring deficit: there are simply too many demands on people's timefor us to care adequately for our children, elderly people, and ourselves.At the same time, political involvement inthe United States is at an all-time low, and although political life shouldhelp us to care better, people see caring as unsupported by public life anddeem the concerns of politics as remote from their lives. Caring Democracy argues that we need to rethink American democracy,as well as our fundamental values and commitments, from a caring perspective. Whatit means to be a citizen is to be someone who takes up the challenge: howshould we best allocate care responsibilities in society? Joan Tronto argues that we need tolook again at how gender, race, class, and market forces misallocate caringresponsibilities and think about freedom and equality from the standpoint of makingcaring more just.The idea thatproduction and economic life are the most important political and humanconcerns ignores the reality that caring, for ourselves and others, should bethe highest value that shapes how we view the economy, politics, andinstitutions such as schools and the family. Care is at the center of our humanlives, but Tronto argues it is currently too far removed from the concerns ofpolitics. Caring Democracy traces the reasons for this disconnection andargues for the need to make care, not economics, the central concern ofdemocratic political life.