The Development of an Ambiguous Care Work Sector: Between Professionalization and Fragmentation

International audienceThis chapter (chapter 7) investigates the 'elderly care work at home' sector in France and analyses the objectives and impact of the various policy measures related to its development. It argues that though formalization of care work appears to be a major trend in elderly care policy, this process does not usher in the development of a homogeneous professionalized care sector. The chapter highlights the complexity of the formalization process of the care work sector in France and demonstrates that formalization, which facilitates the recognition of care as work, does not necessarily mean professionalization. It outlines the diversity of the resources available to support families in caring activities: heterogeneous professional care and semi-formal forms of care work with the possibility to employ a relative and informal family carer. The chapter also outlines the main axes of the policy measures in favour of the formalization of care work, and the key role of both elderly care policy and employment policy