Making social care visible: An indispensable resource on social policies implementation

Abstract

The aim of this article is to reflect on social care as a central dimension of contemporary social policy. Based on the study of conditional cash transfer programs (CCT) in Argentina, we examine how social care constitutes work, which is incorporated as a resource in State interventions, and which falls on women.

We used in-depth interviews and document analysis, based on a qualitative methodological design, to address this aim. Our approach enabled us to affirm that social care constitutes work, though it is not recorded or recognized as such, and that it is incorporated, though unobserved, as a resource in State interventions. Social care involves sustaining and reproducing the lives of others, and it offers an irreplaceable counterpart to these interventions, as well as being incorporated into their designs and components on an "ever-present" basis as the quintessential destiny of women, mothers and recipients. We conclude that providing social care involves time and emotions, and that it is essential to analyze the conditions in which it is carried out, as well as its implications.