Abstract
Live-in care often puts migrant care workers in precarious positions. However, precariousness is not a self-evident outcome. Drawing on literature about care networks and migrants’ social networks, this chapter provides insight into how social support shapes the experience of precarious work. Based on interviews with migrant care workers in the Netherlands, as well as formal and informal caregivers, and the staff of intermediary organizations, this study demonstrates that client-related actors, such as family caregivers and nurses, and non-client-related actors, such as live-in migrant care (LIMC) workers’ relatives and friends ‘here’ and ‘there’, play an important role in shaping the experience of precariousness. Furthermore, our study shows that large differences exist between LIMC workers regarding their access to emotional and practical support, related to contract-based differences in mobility patterns.
This chapter draws on two earlier publications: Van Bochove and Zur Kleinsmiede (2020) and Van Bochove et al. (2017).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bauer, G., & Österle, A. (2013). Migrant care labour: The commodification and redistribution of care and emotional work. Social Policy and Society, 12(3), 461.
Boccagni, P. (2014). Caring about migrant care workers: From private obligations to transnational social welfare? Critical Social Policy, 34(2), 221–240.
Broese van Groenou, M., Jacobs, M., Zwart-Olde, I., & Deeg, D. J. (2016). Mixed care networks of community-dwelling older adults with physical health impairments in the Netherlands. Health and Social Care in the Community, 24(1), 95–104.
Bruquetas-Callejo, M. (2020). Long-term care crisis in the Netherlands and migration of live-in care workers: Transnational trajectories, coping strategies and motivation mixes. International Migration, 58(1), 105–118.
Da Roit, B., & van Bochove, M. (2017). Migrant care work going Dutch? The emergence of a live-in migrant care market and the restructuring of the Dutch long-term care system. Social Policy & Administration, 51(1), 76–94.
Da Roit, B., & Weicht, B. (2013). Migrant care work and care, migration and employment regimes: A fuzzy-set analysis. Journal of European Social Policy, 23(5), 469–486.
Davies, A., & Mans, L. (2015). Thuisbezorgd—Inwonende buitenlandse zorgverleners als oplossing? Podium voor Bio-ethiek, 22(2), 23–26.
Finch, B. K., & Vega, W. A. (2003). Acculturation stress, social support, and self-rated health among Latinos in California. Journal of Immigrant Health, 5(3), 109–117.
Hellgren, Z. (2015). Markets, regimes, and the role of stakeholders: Explaining precariousness of migrant domestic/care workers in different institutional frameworks. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society, 22(2), 220–241.
Horn, V., Schweppe, C., Böcker, A., et al. (2019). Live-in migrant care worker arrangements in Germany and the Netherlands: Motivations and justifications in family decision-making. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life, 13(2), 83–113.
Jacobs, M. T., Broese van Groenou, M. I., Aartsen, M. J., & Deeg, D. J. (2016). Diversity in older adults’ care networks: The added value of individual beliefs and social network proximity. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 73(2), 326–336.
Kalleberg, A. L. (2009). Precarious work, insecure workers: Employment relations in transition. American Sociological Review, 74(1), 1–22.
Kinman, G., & Leggetter, S. (2016). Emotional labour and wellbeing: What protects nurses? Healthcare, 4(4), 89.
Leiber, S., Matuszczyk, K., & Rossow, V. (2019). Private labor market intermediaries in the Europeanized live-in care market between Germany and Poland: A typology. Zeitschrift für Sozialreform, 65(3), 365–392.
Leiber, S., Rossow, V., Österle, A., & Frerk, T. (2021). Yet another black box: brokering agencies in the evolving market for live-in migrant care work in Austria and Germany. International Journal of Care and Caring, 5(2), 187–208.
Lutz, H. (2016). When home becomes a workplace: Domestic work as an ordinary job in Germany? In H. Lutz (Ed.), Migration and domestic work (pp. 55–72). Routledge.
Oxman-Martinez, J., Hanley, J., & Cheung, L. (2004). Another look at the live-in-caregivers program: An analysis of an action research survey conducted by PINAY, the Quebec Filipino women’s association with the centre for applied family studies. Centre de recherche interuniversitaire de Montréal sur l’immigration, l’intégration et la dynamique urbaine.
Salami, B., Duggleby, W., & Rajani, F. (2017). The perspective of employers/families and care recipients of migrant live-in caregivers: A scoping review. Health and Social Care in the Community, 25(6), 1667–1678.
Ryan, L., Sales, R., Tilki, M., & Siara, B. (2008). Social networks, social support and social capital: The experiences of recent Polish migrants in London. Sociology, 42(4), 672–690.
Tonkens, E. (2012). Working with Arlie Hochschild: Connecting feelings to social change. Social Politics, 19(2), 194–218. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxs003
Van Bochove, M. (2012). Geographies of belonging: The transnational and local involvement of economically successful migrants. Dissertation. Erasmus University, Rotterdam.
Van Bochove, M., & Zur Kleinsmiede, D. (2020). Broadening the scope of live-in migrant care research: How care networks shape the experience of precarious work. Health and Social Care in the Community, 28(1), 51–59.
Van Bochove, M., Zur Kleinsmiede, D., & Ashu, S. (2017). Kwetsbaar, en dan? Hoe inwonende buitenlandse zorgverleners en hun werkgevers omgaan met precaire arbeid. Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Van Bochove, M., Tonkens, E., Verplanke, L., & Roggeveen, S. (2018). Reconstructing the professional domain: Boundary work of professionals and volunteers in the context of social service reform. Current Sociology, 66(3), 392–411.
Van den Broek, T., Dykstra, P. A., & Van Der Veen, R. J. (2019). Adult children stepping in? Long-term care reforms and trends in children’s provision of household support to impaired parents in the Netherlands. Ageing & Society, 39(1), 112–137.
Van Dijk, H. M., Cramm, J. M., & Nieboer, A. P. (2013). The experiences of neighbour, volunteer and professional support-givers in supporting community dwelling older people. Health and Social Care in the Community, 21(2), 150–158.
Van Grafhorst, A. (2014). Verantwoorde buitenlandse zorg aan huis: Een verkennend onderzoek naar inwonende buitenlandse zorgverleners in Nederland. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Stichting Wemos.
Wee, K., Goh, C., & Yeoh, B. S. (2019). Chutes-and-ladders: The migration industry, conditionality, and the production of precarity among migrant domestic workers in Singapore. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 45(14), 2672–2688.
Wilson, W. J., & Chaddha, A. (2009). The role of theory in ethnographic research. Ethnography, 10(4), 549–564.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
van Bochove, M., zur Kleinsmiede, D. (2021). Social Support Within and Outside Care Networks: Experiences of Live-in Migrant Care Workers in the Netherlands. In: Horn, V., Schweppe, C., Böcker, A., Bruquetas-Callejo, M. (eds) The Global Old Age Care Industry. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2237-3_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2237-3_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-16-2236-6
Online ISBN: 978-981-16-2237-3
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)