ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the gendered labour struggles and collective action following neoliberal restructuring of human service organisations. In contemporary Sweden, contentious mobilisation is taking place among different occupational groups working within welfare services and in the health care sector. The chapter presents an argument as to why the concept of a politicisation of caring is analytically useful in order for the authors to explore and understand the collective contentious mobilization that is taking place in Sweden. It argues that the notion of professionalism might be expanded through a discourse of caring. The chapter also discusses the individual in a fairly complex position, due to processes of proletarianisation and work intensification, risking either deprofessionalization or to reproduce the gendered notions of care work as a calling. The concept of a politicisation of caring takes the gendered paradox of care work and welfare professional projects seriously.