Becoming a Consumer of Care: Developing a Sociological Account of the ‘New Community Care’

Abstract

The chapter evaluates the reformed arrangements for the management and delivery of social care following the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 using a framework drawn from economic sociology. Research findings describing how a group of newly disabled older people fared as consumers of the services are summarized. An explanatory account is given drawing upon concepts and theory to be found in the growing literature on the sociology of economic life, particularly studies of consumption. The central conclusion is that it is difficult to account for the effects of the recent reforms on community care consumers without situating them within a context of existing social relations and institutions. If the reforms are to succeed they must change not just the practical mechanics of service funding and delivery but deeply embedded values and behavioural norms.