Constraint or Vocation? Changing the Narrative of the “Familization” of Employment Relations between Migrant Live-in Care Workers and their Employers

Progressive ageing is one of the most salient social challenges experienced by the world population, and in particular by highly industrialized countries (Lutz et al. 2008). Societies demographically change over time as a function of structural changes, scientific achievements (e.g. the release of new vaccines) and important changes in life conditions (mainly in terms of nutrition and hygiene). During the last decades, an increasing number of people have reached an older age, and the number of years that these people are expected to live has also increased. The question then is, who will take care of this increasing number of elderly persons? In Italy, care for the elderly is commonly organized ‘at home’ and performed by migrant care workers, often referred to as ‘Badante’, rather than in a system of institutional care. Italy has increasingly moved from a familistic care regime, where the elderly were taken care of within the family, to a ‘migrant in the family’ system. This system facilitates the development of close relationships between (immigrant) care workers, the elderly, and their family members. In this article, we will show how these close relations between care workers and families are a fundamental aspect of the Italian care regime, but at the same time it is a system in which care workers risk to be overburdened. Yet, we will argue that at the same time, it is important to acknowledge how these special employment circumstances and relations between families and care workers provide a vital way of coping with the difficulties of aging as well as care taking, and can be a source of empowerment for care workers.