Redoing Care: Societal Transformation through Critical Practice

Abstract

The article reconsiders whether the practice of care can have a role in societal transformation. To this end, I track Seyla Benhabib's critical concept of care with a focus on the relationship between care theory and transformative aim. I then turn to the practice of care, considering the different notions of care and contrasting the comprehensive moral orientation described by Carol Gilligan with the human activity model of Joan Tronto. Care is described as a societal practice situated between activity and relatedness. Starting from care as a societal practice, I address whether autonomy, symmetry and reciprocity should be conceptually separated from respect and attentiveness. In conclusion I ask how transformation and change can be conceptualized, given my argument that care is a societal practice. Unlike other approaches, which argue that transformation is something achieved via public discussions of norms, I advocate transformation as something practiced. My aim is to rethink care in order to make visible its inherent potential for transformation.

Keywords:

• Transformation
• Ethics of Care
• Deliberation
• Theory-Practice-Relation
• Political Theory
• Participation

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank Jorma Heier, Dominic Bonfiglio, Marian Barnes and Frans Vosman for their advice and comments on this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.