ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the role of carers and other key players in the provision of services to older people living at home. The concepts of care, caring and caregiving, like the concept of community, are often imbued with positive associations. For social workers, government definitions of caring are important in determining who gains from the construction and elevation of caring in social policy. The social psychological perspective , focusing on the interpersonal dynamics of caring, has been influential in the construction of the idea of caring as an additional dimension to human relationships. Recent work linking the ethic of care perspective with the gendered perspective has developed greater awareness of both 'the positive potential of care to build social cohesion and express personal responsibility, and the negative capacity for exploitation and inequality that has so often been the legacy of allocating responsibility for providing care'.
