2025-09-10_theory of care quick summary

2.3 | Theory of care

Care, as understood by Berenice Fisher and Joan Tronto (1990, p. 40), is a practical and political project. Rooted in feminist scholarship, they describe caring as:

“A species activity that includes everything that we do to maintain, continue, and repair our ‘world’ so that we can live in it as well as possible. That world includes our bodies, ourselves, and our environment, all of which we seek to interweave in a complex, life- sustaining web.”

This comprehensive view of care involves a five-step process: caring about, caring for, care-giving, care-receiving, and caring with Tronto (2013). Caring about refers to being attentive to the needs of others, which involves a moral or ethical quality associated with a concern for something/ someone. Attentiveness is emphasised as a key constituent of this phase (Collett et al., 2018). Caring for involves acknowledging caring needs and taking responsibility to ensure that they are met. Care-giving is the actual hands-on work of carrying out the caring tasks, which can be challenging due to resource and capability limitations. Care-receiving involves the response to caregiving by those towards whom care is directed, which can result in conflicts between caregivers and care-receivers. The definition of ‘needs’ that satisfies both parties can be difficult to determine. Finally, caring with refers to a relational understanding of care–where there is a commitment to trust, respect, communication and solidarity within caring practices in all levels of society.

Yee, K., & Sharp, E. L. (2023). Complexities of care in insect-human relations. New Zealand Geographer, 79(2), 86–96. https://doi.org/10.1111/nzg.12369