The Politics of Care

About this book

From the COVID-19 pandemic to uprisings over police brutality, we are living in the greatest social crisis of a generation. But the roots of these latest emergencies stretch back decades. At their core is a brutal neoliberal ideology that combines structural racism with a relentless assault on social welfare. Its results are the failing economic and public health systems we confront today--those that benefit the few and put the most vulnerable in harm's way. Contributors to this anthology insist there is another way: a new kind of politics--a politics of care--that centers people's basic needs and connections to fellow citizens, the global community, and the natural world. Imagining a world that promotes the health and well-being of all, they draw inspiration from public health, philosophy, economics, literature, and the examples of activists, from ACT UP to Black Power. Together they point to a future in which no one is disposable. This publication looks at the pandemic and racism along with ideas about a way toward a new kind of politics. The contributions from authors include the following: public health, history, economics, and acitivism.