Mother–grandmother contracts: Local care loops and the intergenerational transfer of childcare in the Czech Republic

Abstract

This article explores the local care loops in the Czech Republic, a country that experienced radical changes in family policies and in the organization of childcare after the fall of Communism in 1989. The aim of this article is to answer the following questions: What is the dominant pattern of childcare organization? What is the nature of the local care loops in the Czech Republic? How are these local care loops reproduced by current social policies? Where are their roots in the pre-1989 period? To answer these questions, the article investigates the local care loops and everyday mobilities of childcare in the Czech Republic. It draws upon secondary analysis of scholarly (sociological and anthropological) works that focus on childcare and its organization and of works that analyse relevant social policies. The article presents the following findings: local care loops in the Czech Republic are endogamous and matrilineal, they follow a gendered care contract between generations of women, and they are thus part of intergenerational solidarity. The analysis illuminates how the care loops are shaped by the social policies that affect care cultures in the Czech Republic.