The Impact and Repercussions of the Global Care Chain (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2022 in the subject Sociology - Individual, Groups, Society, , language: English, abstract: This paper is about the impact and repercussions of the Global Care Chain.

It is not easy to take care of another family while one's own family, just as much, needs a mother, a daughter, or a wife. However, sometimes the circumstances do not leave room for any other option, which is the case for many women worldwide. They find themselves in a so-called "Global Care Chain", a term coined by Arlie Hochschild that is now considered an important analytic category for the worldwide increasing feminisation of migration. There is a grand link between globalisation, care, and migration. The latter has alleviated various labour shortages in the private and public health sectors.

In doing so, uneven dependencies and labor exploitation are accompanied. This concept falls prey to many critics because it reproduces inequalities by redistributing care resources, particularly emotional care labour, from those in poorer countries for consumption by those in richer ones. Regardless of the critique, it is still widely spread because of migrant workers' economic dependency. This paper will provide a deep insight into the concept of the Global Care Chain. It will address the inequalities it is linked to while looking at its impact regarding its social costs and its repercussions on family and children.