Today's world is aging at a great speed, and although increased longevity represents one of the greatest achievements of the last century, the extension of life expectancy does not necessarily correspond to an extension of healthy lives. Aging populations, particularly those with a high percentage of the oldest old, are often burdened with chronic conditions that require extended long-term care. Deciding who provides said care, and in what forms, are key problems that will soon affect a growing number of post-industrial high- and mid-income countries. Caring for a Living contributes to this debate by exploring the organization of long-term care in Italy, a country already in the midst of an eldercare crisis. There, the answer to this problem has taken the shape of home eldercare assistance, an arrangement whereby long-term care services are bought in the market in the form of private and individualized assistance by families sometimes with economic support provided by the State. The providers of these services, commonly known as "badanti" (minders), are, for the most part, im/migrant women coming from different areas of the world. Caring for a Living analyzes the emergence and development of this arrangement and the role that the state, Italian families, and workers themselves play in shaping and in defining it. The author provides timely insights on: the nature of long-term care and its requirements; the specific needs of families facing this issue; the changing role of the neoliberal State; and the ways in which global political and economic processes influence and shape an apparently individually based solution to long-term care. This book is ideal for graduate courses in sociology and anthropology, specifically in courses related to gender and migration, work and women, social inequality, and immigration studies.

Francesca Degiuli, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Fairleigh Dickinson University and a Visiting Fellow in the Center for European and Mediterranean Studies at NYU. Dr. Degiuli's research interests lie at the intersection of aging, gender, immigration, and globalization. Specifically, she is interested in highlighting the complex interactions between political economy and culture in shaping everyday life.

Chapter 1: The Changing Landscape of Eldercare Chapter 2: The New Faces of Eldercare Chapter 3: The Italian Case Chapter 4: The Burden of Long-Term Care: Its Cultural, Economic and Social Aspects. Chapter 5: The Shaping of New Subjects Chapter 6: Skilling the Unskilled: The Multiple Dimensions of Eldercare Chapter 7: The Bonds of Labor Chapter 8: Concluding Thoughts Appendix 1: Interviews with current or former home eldercare assistants Appendix 2: Table 3.7 Interviews with Family Caregivers who care for disabled elders. Appendix 3: Interviews with im/migrant women at Tierra and with cultural References Index