To care can feel good, or it can feel bad. It can do good, it can oppress. But what is care? A moral obligation? A burden? A joy? Is it only human? In Matters of Care, María Puig de la Bellacasa presents a powerful challenge to conventional notions of care, exploring its significance as an ethical and political obligation for thinking in the more than human worlds of technoscience and naturecultures. Matters of Care contests the view that care is something only humans do, and argues for extending to non-humans the consideration of agencies and communities that make the living web of care by considering how care circulates in the natural world. The first of the book’s two parts, “Knowledge Politics,” defines the motivations for expanding the ethico-political meanings of care, focusing on discussions in science and technology that engage with sociotechnical assemblages and objects as lively, politically charged “things.” The second part, “Speculative Ethics in Antiecological Times,” considers everyday ecologies of sustaining and perpetuating life for their potential to transform our entrenched relations to natural worlds as “resources.” From the ethics and politics of care to experiential research on care to feminist science and technology studies, Matters of Care is a singular contribution to an emerging interdisciplinary debate that expands agency beyond the human to ask how our understandings of care must shift if we broaden the world.

With numerous examples to supplement her rich theoretical discussion, Nel Noddings builds a compelling philosophical argument for an ethics based on natural caring, as in the care of a mother for her child. In Caring—now updated with a new preface and afterword reflecting on the ongoing relevance of the subject matter—the author provides a wide-ranging consideration of whether organizations, which operate at a remove from the caring relationship, can truly be called ethical. She discusses the extent to which we may truly care for plants, animals, or ideas. Finally, she proposes a realignment of education to encourage and reward not just rationality and trained intelligence, but also enhanced sensitivity in moral matters.

Caring For/Caring About explores the complex nature of caring in Canadian society today by examining current research on women, home care, and unpaid caregiving.

Americans now face a caring deficit: there are simply too many demands on people’s time for us to care adequately for our children, elderly people, and ourselves.At the same time, political involvement in the United States is at an all-time low, and although political life should help us to care better, people see caring as unsupported by public life and deem the concerns of politics as remote from their lives. Caring Democracy argues that we need to rethink American democracy, as well as our fundamental values and commitments, from a caring perspective. The idea that production and economic life are the most important political and human concerns ignores the reality that caring, for ourselves and others, should be the highest value that shapes how we view the economy, politics, and institutions such as schools and the family. Care is at the center of our human lives, but Tronto argues it is currently too far removed from the concerns of politics. Caring Democracy traces the reasons for this disconnection and argues for the need to make care, not economics, the central concern of democratic political life. Joan C. Tronto is a Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of Moral Boundaries: A Political Argument for an Ethic of Care (Routledge).

If your people know you care about them, they will move mountains. Employee engagement and loyalty expert Heather Younger outlines nine ways to manifest the radical power of caring support in the workplace. Here's the thing: most leaders think of themselves as caring leaders, but not all of them act in alignment with what that means for employees. Leaders may not be able to identify the level of care they are extending to their employees, but all employees intuitively know whether their bosses or managers are caring for them. Heather Younger argues that if you are looking for increased productivity, customer satisfaction, or employee engagement, you need to care for your employees first. Genuinely caring for people means that you want to see them succeed for themselves, not just for what they can do for you, your team, or your organization. This book incorporates ten sections with breakout stories and interviews that outline the necessary steps to make all employees feel included and cared for, as well as a call to action for all leaders. Younger states that leaders who have the positive power to change the lives of those they lead shouldn't just want to care for them; they should see it as imperative for the success of their employees and their organization.

The author assesses the ethics of care as a promising alternative to the familiar moral theories that serve so inadequately to guide our lives. Held examines what we mean by care and focuses on caring relationships. She also looks at the potential of care for dealing with social issues and global problems.

Care shapes people's everyday lives and relationships and caring relations and practices influence the economies of different societies. This interdisciplinary book takes a nuanced and context-sensitive approach to exploring caring relationships, identities and practices within and across a variety of cultural, familial, geographical and institutional arenas.

"Should be obligatory reading. . . . A philosophy of life in a nutshell, one that has latched on to the most practical, central, and sensible of all activities, human or cosmic."--Psychology Today

"Caring Science, Mindful Practice offers unique and practical project examples that nurses will consider for their practice or educational settings. With its integration of Watson's caring science and mindfulness principles, Sitzman and Watson have extended knowledge of Watson's caring science and caritas processes through integrating Thich Nhat Hahn's mindfulness perspective and practices. The book offers rich examples of nursing projects that may broaden nursing care for greater patient and student satisfaction and assist nurses with holistic self-care." -- Gale Robinson-Smith, PhD, RN is Associate Professor, College of Nursing, Villanova University, International Journal for Human Caring "This book provides wonderful tools for nurses to use in practice, education, or even for self-care. Designed for any nurse, new or experienced, who wishes to learn more about applying Jean Watson's Human Caring Theory to practice, it supplies the meaning behind the importance of having a practice based on mindfulness....[It] is a practical, easy-to-read book for all nursing audiences and could be used at any educational level."--Doody's Medical Reviews ìSitzman and Watsons' book is an invaluable resourceÖ The strength of this book is its simplicity on one level yet its complexity as the reader works throughout the layers incorporated within the book.î--Nursing Times This is the first text to help students and practicing nurses translate and integrate the philosophy and abstracts of Caring theory into everyday practice. It was developed for use as the primary text for an online caring theory course that will be offered through the Watson Caring Science Institute in October 2013. Through case examples and guiding activities, the book helps students and practitioners to more fully comprehend the meaning and use of each Caritas Process. It draws upon the contemplative and mindfulness teaching of Thich Nhat Hahn, a renowned Buddhist monk, poet, author, teacher, and peace activist. Each of the ten Caritas Processes are clearly presented by the author and accompanied by guided mindfulness and artistic practices to support learning and absorption of the method. These artistic practices include the use of images, art, metaphors, and expressive symbols that are designed to promote meaningful introspection and self-awarenessóthe underpinnings of genuine Caritas practice. The book reflects several years of teaching by the author, who has been invited by several large health care institutions (including Kaiser-Permanente) to provide training based on her materials. Key Features: Helps students and practitioners to integrate the philosophy and abstracts of Caring theory into clinical practice Offers case studies and guided activities to reinforce content Draws upon the contemplative and mindfulness teachings of Thich Nhat Hahn Includes concrete guided mindfulness and artistic practices for each of the ten Caritas Processes Designed for a wide audience including undergraduate, graduate and international nursing students

In Moral Boundaries Joan C. Tronto provides one of the most original responses to the controversial questions surrounding women and caring. Tronto demonstrates that feminist thinkers have failed to realise the political context which has shaped their debates about care. It is her belief that care cannot be a useful moral and political concept until its traditional and ideological associations as a "women's morality" are challenged. Moral Boundaries contests the association of care with women as empirically and historically inaccurate, as well as politically unwise. In our society, members of unprivileged groups such as the working classes and people of color also do disproportionate amounts of caring. Tronto presents care as one of the central activites of human life and illustrates the ways in which society degrades the importance of caring in order to maintain the power of those who are privileged.