'Our role was as a baby minder, not an educator, not a carer...': A Foucauldian-informed narrative analysis considering accounts of 'essential working' through a lens of care ethics

Abstract

Introduction and rationale: This thesis looks through a lens of care ethics at accounts of 'essential working', to consider the empirical, methodological and theoretical implications and learning for counselling psychology. As well as gaps in the literature around the study topic, my rationale also notes an absence of attention to care in counselling psychology scholarship, despite its ostensibly revered position within our humanistically-embedded discipline. I thus make a case for the value of drawing upon care and care ethics to reinvigorate our social justice understanding. Methodology: A productive alliance is formed between a feminist care-ethical epistemology and a Foucauldian-informed approach to narratives, with which to read carefully in-depth interview accounts of seven participants designated as non-healthcare 'essential workers' in the UK during the pandemic. Seeking to query a problematic discourse of 'current crisis' for papering-over ongoing problems, my qualitative exploration extends beyond the parameters of this particular time to capture how narrators navigate their everyday labours and to consider what the 'conditions of possibility' (Hook, 2005, p. 531) might be that lead, in some cases, to its invisibility or undervaluing. As a hermeneutic, an ethic of care is most attuned to the 'everyday', 'ordinary' and 'mundane', wherein lies the potential to 'make strange' (Boulton et al., 2021) that which may otherwise be taken-for- granted. Analysis: The analysis discussion explores matters of everyday liminality; navigating 'essential work'; dividing practices; narrating invisibility; negotiating 'care'; and care of the self. Implications of the findings prompt a de-naturalisation of how work that is the most elemental is often accorded less value, or overlooked. An exploration of care and responsibility offers a tentative understanding of what it might mean to live in Tronto's (2013) caring democracy. Drawing upon Foucauldian and Black Feminist Thought (BFT) supports an important critical understanding of care of the self, which is both inseparable from caring for and being cared for, as well as intimately tied up with self-knowing, and giving our lives form. Reflexive analysis: a consideration of researcher positionality in relation to the study topic lends to an exploration of matters of professionalisation and 'privileged irresponsibility' (Tronto, 1990), and returns to Black Feminist Thought to think through omissions and limitations. Conclusions and implications: I found a care-ethical lens to offer a fruitful red thread throughout the research, offering particular resonance with, and learning for, counselling psychology. When meaningfully applied, findings offer the potential to look awry at the labours of our practice which might be most vulnerable to invisibility or obfuscation, such as those which are tacit or intuitive. A deeper understanding of work and occupation is also considered valuable in building understanding of our clients' vocational lives. Crucially, I argue that challenging some of the most taken-for-granted aspects of the ways in which work is valued holds the potential to hone understanding of our fundamental interdependence, wherein our humanity also lies.

Date of Award	9 Jan 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Terry Hanley (Main Supervisor) & Jo Shuttleworth (Co Supervisor)