Unpaid Care: Experiences and Perceptions of Men as Caregivers in Family Contexts

Abstract

The following article discusses the experiences and perceptions of men who care for adults in situations of dependency in the family homes in Catalonia, in a double crisis context: the economic crisis and crisis care; an environment that prompts the incursion of these men to family care. The analysis we propose is some attitudes typology of male caregivers: management attitude, responsible attitude, efficient attitude and exceptional attitude. This attitudes typology will demonstrate that we speak of a group of men no homogeneous and dynamic, who learns new activities and incorporates them into the practices of care, resignifying the ideas of gender and kinship. This seeks to emphasize and demonstrate that the capacity to care does not correspond to a natural state but cultural and that both men and women are in the ability to develop and exercise.