ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the effects of a market system on care homes residents’ experiences of risk. It looks at broad analyses of vulnerability and risk and their relevance to understanding the devaluation of life in care homes. It then examines evidence on protection for and risk to residents within a market system of care, questioning claims that a market system increases individual choice and control for residents and improves the quality of care. The focus then shifts to risks specific to a privatized system, with particular attention to the British context, where developments relating to the consumer status of residents, together with recent market turbulence, highlight the volatile and precarious nature of markets in care and the devalued status of older people.
