@techreport{AuthDierkesLeiberetal.2017, author = {Auth, Diana and Dierkes, Mirjam and Leiber, Simone and Leitner, Sigrid}, title = {Reconciling employment and elderly care within the "adult worker model": typical arrangements of caring sons}, address = {D{\"u}sseldorf}, issn = {2509-6958}, doi = {10.20385/2509-6958/2017.2}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-10459}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Reconciling work and family life is one of the main issues of welfare state policies in the fields of childcare and long-term care. On that account, policy and research are focused almost exclusively on women - often on the reconciliation of work and childbearing - and social policy at the state level. In our study, we concentrate on men who reconcile gainful employment with elderly care, and we include the company level - a level of analysis often neglected in traditional theoretical approaches and typologies of comparative welfare state research. In Germany, during the last decade, the share of sons who are responsible for taking care of their elderly relatives has remarkably increased. In our qualitative research, we carried out comparative case studies in eleven German companies. We conducted around 60 interviews with male employees caring for an elderly relative, as well as with members of the works councils and human resources departments in different kinds of companies. We analysed which familial, social, professional, legal as well as occupational resources are central for these men, how they cope with reconciling work and care, and which gaps in the welfare system they identify. Interestingly, the overwhelming majority of the caring sons claim not to have problems in reconciling work and care, although they spend significant time on caring. In this paper we try to explain this pattern by looking at their typical care arrangements. We found that while women tend to organise employment around care, men rather seem to organise care around their employment. Given the feminist critique of the "adult worker model" this is an interesting result and needs theoretical reflection. Do men have the solution to the care-blindness of the "adult worker model" without falling into the "cold modern model of care"? Which resources are mainly used in "adult worker care arrangements"? Where are the limits of the approach?}, language = {en} }