Caring democracy: Markets, equality and justice

• Published in: Contemporary political theory 2016-05, Vol.15 (2), p.e22-e25
• Main Author: Metz, Tamara
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Citizens; Citizenship; Critical Theory; Democracy; Equality; Freedoms; Gender; Justice; Markets; Neoliberalism; Political Philosophy; Political power; Political Science; Political Science and International Relations; Political Science and International Studies; Political Theory; Politics; Poststructuralism; Rationality; Responsibilities; Responsibility; Review; Sexes
• ISSN: 1470-8914; 1476-9336
• DOI: 10.1057/cpt.2015.32

The work vividly illustrates how democracy depends on activities that are often ignored, undervalued and left out of public discussions, and provides a devastating account of how gender norms, tropes of choice and personal responsibility, and market mechanisms are deployed in the neoliberal context to undermine both care and democracy. In refreshing divergence from the dominant strains of care theory, Tronto filters the facts of care through democratic commitments. [...]she adds to her earlier definition a 'final phase of care': 'caring with ... requires that caring needs and the ways in which they are met need to be consistent with democratic commitments to justice, equality and freedom for all' (p. 23). [...]though, her position is deeply faithful to democratic process; the concern about the distribution of care stems from a commitment to what she quite plausibly claims is the defining value implicit in a commitment to democratic process, that of equal voice.