Policy Press Nanny Families: Practices of Care by Nannies, Au Pairs, Parents and Children in Sweden (Sociology of Children and Families)

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence Paying privately for childcare is a growing phenomenon worldwide, a trend mirrored in Sweden despite the prevalence there of publicly funded daycare. This book combines theories of family practices, care and childhood studies with the personal perspectives of nannies, au pairs, parents and children to provide new understandings of what constitutes care in nanny families. The authors investigate the ways in which all the participants experience the caring situation, and expose the possibilities and problems of nanny and au pair care. Their study illuminates the ways in which paid domestic care workers 'do' family and care; in doing so, it contributes to wider political and scientific discussions of inequalities at the global and local level, reproduced in and between families, in the context of rapidly changing welfare states. Review ...well written, exciting to read, and offers new knowledge about global care chains, welfare, family and gender equality. Eldén and Anving call for a new and more critical debate of care practices. Norwegian Journal of Sociology Nanny Families underlines that Swedish family life indeed is part of the global care chains discussed by many other researchers. What happens in Swedish families is therefore not just a 'Swedish affair'...it serves as an example of how gender equality is under reformulation in what is considered to be one of the most gender-equal countries in the world. European Journal of Women's Studies About the Author Sara Eldén (PhD) is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Lund University She researches sociology of family and personal life, feminist theory, and childhood sociology. She is dedicated to developing new methods for researching everyday practices and life narratvies, especially in research with children. She has been a visiting scholar at the Morgan Centre at University of Manchester, and at the Centre for Childhood Studies at University of Leeds. Terese Anving (PhD) is a senior lecturer at the Department of Gender Studies at Lund University. She researches sociology of gender and family relationships, with a special focus on inequalities of everyday life.