Promotional Information

Argues for the need to make care, not economics, the central concern of democratic political life

Table of Contents

C o n t e n t s Preface ixAcknowledgments xviiIntroduction: When Care Is No Longer "at Home" 1Part I : Envi s ioning a Caring D emocracy1 Redefining Democracy as Settling Disputesabout Care Responsibilities 172 Why Personal Responsibility Isn't Enough for Democracy 46Part I I : How We Care Now3 Tough Guys Don't Care ... Do They?Gender, Freedom, and Care 674 Vicious Circles of Privatized Caring:Care, Equality, and Democracy 955 Can Markets Be Caring? Markets, Care, and Justice 114Part I I I : Imagining D emocratic Caring Practice sand Caring D emocraci e s6 Democratic Caring 1397 Caring Democracy 169 Notes 183Bibliography 191Index 215About the Author 22

About the Author

Joan C. Tronto is Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of Moral Boundaries: A Political Argument for an Ethic of Care (Routledge).

Reviews

In this wonderful book from one of todays leading feminist political theorists, Joan Tronto argues that democracy is in a time of crisisand she is right. Identifying the & passes that some of us get for sharing responsibility for care, particularly men and the wealthy, she calls for a & democratic care revolution. Though keenly aware of the personal and private character of many care activities, Tronto makes a compelling case for care as a public good and for rethinking the way in which caring responsibilities are carried out in order to achieve the freedom, equality, and justice that are necessary not only to better care, but to better democracy. Her notion of & caring with as a fundamental democratic ideal brings a much-needed corrective to the literature on care that enables us to think more concretely about how society needs to be restructured to meet the care needs of all citizens. The argument is thoughtful, careful, meticulous, and indeed, riveting.
*Nancy J. Hirschmann,author of Gender, Class, and Freedom in Modern Political Theory*

Is democracy just a matter of voter turnout? No, Tronto argues in this important paradigm-shifting bookit also connects us to one another through a responsibility to care. The neo-liberal call to an & ownership society erodes that responsibility by giving out & passes. With the & bootstrap pass one can say, & its enough to care for me and mine. With the & charity pass one can say & well help only the few we chose.Read this book and open your eyes.
*Arlie Hochschild,author of The Outsourced Self: Intimate Life in Market Times*