Contestations in coping with elderly care: an intersectional analysis addressing family caregivers in Germany

Abstract

This article addresses inequalities in elderly care from the perspective of family caregivers. By applying an intersectional perspective, we examine the interdependencies of, and interrelations between, the four structural categories of family caregivers’ socio-economic status, gender, ethnicity and employment status, as well as differences in their ability to cope with providing care. We have analysed 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews with family carers in Germany. A high socio-economic status alone did not prove to be sufficient for the good functioning of care arrangements, and ethnicity as a dividing line turned out to be of limited importance. The core result is a typology of five ‘types of coping with care’, three of them with ‘rather successful’ and two with ‘rather precarious’ coping strategies. The types differ in the way difference categories interact. Across all types, it became evident that self-care orientation, self-care action as well as self-determination and control are central for a ‘rather successful’ coping.