The ethic of care has developed to become a body of theory that has expanded from its roots in social psychology to many other disciplines in the social sciences as well as the humanities. This work on care has informed both theory and practice by generating complex accounts of care ethics for multiple and intersecting kinds of relationships, and for a variety of domains and contexts. Its application now extends from the moral to the political realm, from personal to public relationships, from the local to the global, from feminine to feminist virtues and values, and from issues of gender to issues of power and oppression. The developments in the theories and applications of care ethics over the past few decades make this book an appropriate and timely publication. It includes chapters by authors who are developing or expanding theories of care ethics and also by those who work on applying and extending insights from care ethics to practices and policies in personal and institutional settings. Care Ethics provides readers from different disciplines and professional groups with a substantial number of new theories and applications from both new and established authors. This book was originally published as two special issues of Ethics and Social Welfare.

This article draws on two qualitative studies on family care conducted in the US and the UK (between 2006 and 2008 the first one and between 2008 and 2011 the second one). It highlights convergences and divergences in the care practices of disabled and same-sex families, and illustrates the importance of shedding light on both the ‘bright’ and ‘dark’ sides of care. Adding a focus on different kinds of carers is not only important theoretically—to fill the gaps—but also strategically—to increase equality. Since difference and inequality co-determine one another, and since heterosexism and ableism will undoubtedly continue, the inclusion of diverse subjects into the discourse on ‘care’, the contextualization of care within situated interaction (Ridgeway and Correll, 2000), and the accent on the positive/energizing aspects of care might be the most effective way not only to achieve greater care related equality but also to increase the symbolic importance that people attach to this crucial social phenomenon.

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Introduction Care is a fundamental component of people’s life, with significant implications in terms of status and power dimensions, social justice, equality and citizenship. Nevertheless, care related policies tend to be defined in neutral terms, reinforcing inequalities based on gender, class, race/ethnicity, age, able-bodiness and sexual orientation. Moreover, the literature on care tends to be focused on its costs and responsibilities, while less attention is paid to the right to care and its consequences in terms of status inclusion or exclusion. Aims The study here presented aimed at rethinking the phenomenon of care in a broader perspective, by offering a qualitative analysis that also includes non-conventional caregivers. It builds on the findings of an empirical research on informal care conducted in the USA between 2005 and 2007. The theoretical framework draws on those aspects of the psycho-sociology of emotions that, in explaining how feelings motivate conformity and social stratification, connect micro- and macro-levels, making care, emotion and sexual orientation central to understand how situated interactions reproduce social structure. Methods The sub-sample of gay and lesbian caregivers who are examined in this paper is part of a larger purposive sample of 80 informal caregivers, 40 men and 40 women, involved in childcare or elderly care (or, sometimes, both). The research was based on a multi-method approach, including semi-structured in-depth interviews, participant observation, diaries, online discussion forums between members of carers’ associations, key-informants interviews, secondary sources on informal care collected from local associations, journal and newspaper articles and the web. Results The phenomenological analysis of the different meanings and implications of Care discussed in this paper sheds light into important and yet less visible and still unexplored aspects of Care concerning status and power dimensions. If such status and power dimensions are relevant for all caregivers, regardless of their sexual orientation, the public dimension of LGBT care activities (particularly when parenthood is involved) is also quintessentially political. Western culture incorporates aspects of same-sex parenthood that fit with neoliberal, capitalist and individualist agendas while excluding the rest. Whether LGBT caregivers/parents are interested in embracing such political agendas is questionable. Conclusions The implications of more inclusive approaches to Care are crucially important for current debates within social sciences, but also in terms of social policy and LGBT citizenship. Situating the debate of LGBT citizenship within the context of care allows us to reframe the discourse on Care and reduce the inequalities traditionally connected to this fundamental activity; but it also allows overcoming the artificial and misleading dualism between marginalisation and incorporation and to look for anti-assimilationist strategies of inclusion.