Caring in times of aging and (neo)familism: a Brazilian window into a National Care Policy - in dialogue with Líbia Mafra Miranda

Abstract

There are books that arrive at the exact moment when a society needs to choose which side of history it wants to be on; that is, in the global and Brazilian context, whether to align itself with a societal project that prioritizes the maintenance of capital structures and market efficiency, or with a model that prioritizes redistribution, social inclusion, and sustainability. Thus, the book "Aging and Care Policies in Brazil and Spain," by Líbia Mafra Benvindo de Miranda, is one of them. Amidst the advance of population aging and the re-entry of care onto the Brazilian governmental agenda, the work invites us to view care not as a private virtue, but as socially necessary work and, therefore, as a public duty, shifting the debate from good intentions and historically and socially naturalized feminine work to the more challenging terrain of financing, regulation, and state responsibilities.