TROPPA GRAZIA, POCA CURA. Il lavoro nel welfare esternalizzato tra nuove emergenze e contraddizioni strutturali/TOO MUCH GRACE, LITTLE CARE. Work in outsourced welfare among new emergency and structural contradictions

Abstract

In the summer of 2022, while I am writing this article, the issue of
working conditions in the outsourced social and health services is on
the agenda of the public debate. The Syndemy and the daily news of
“shortages of staff” in youth and elderly care have brought the problem
back to the forefront. Moving from such contingent emergencies, the
article aims at offering a panoramic view of some of the main issues
regarding the transformations of welfare and social workers’ labor conditions
in Italy that emerged in the last decades: the rise and crisis of
welfare mix, the different forms of outsourcing and privatization, the
industrialization of social work, the forms of value extraction that have
developed in the sector. In conclusion, I recall the question of social
workers’ voice and organization and introduce a collective research and
action project in which I am involved.

Keywords:
Care Work; Social workers; Italy; Welfare Mix; Non-Profit Sector.