Stories of Care : Gender and Class at Work

An interdisciplinary study of the law's influence on homecare work and the experiences of care workers in the UK. Drawing together interviews with analysis of legal documents and media reports, this highly topical text unpicks assumptions about care workers and identifies aspects of the law that are problematic in this work context.

Stories of Care: A Labour of Law is an interdisciplinary study of the interactions of law and labour that shape paid care work. Based on the experiences of homecare workers, this highly topical text unpicks doctrinal assumptions about class and gender to interrogate contemporary labour law. It demonstrates how the UK’s crisis in social care is connected to the gendered inadequacy of labour law and argues for transformative change to law at work. ‘Utterly compelling. Perhaps the best ever example in modern labour law scholarship of research-led recommendations.’ – Keith Ewing, Professor of Public Law, King’s College London‘An important contribution to socio-legal research on care work and labour law.’ – Judy Fudge, Professor of Labour Law, University of Kent‘Innovative and meticulous; merits a very wide readership.’ – Lizzie Barmes, Professor of Labour Law, Queen Mary University of London‘A really important text which shows, through deep analysis of care workers’ stories, how badly undervalued their work is… It offers an excellent analysis.’ – Robin Allen QC, Cloisters Chambers‘A rare and valuable insight into the lives and views of women who work in the little known world of homecare for rates of pay and conditions that shame our society.’ – David Brindle, Public Services Editor, The Guardian‘Boundary-breaking … an outstanding contribution to the growing field of feminist labour law scholarship.’ – Joanne Conaghan, Professor of Law, University of Bristol