Care Work Reading Guide
“Love and Gold”
Arlie Russell Hochschild
1. What is meant by the term “brain drain?” What is the analogous “care drain” identified by Hochschild?
2. Hochschild writes, “As Rowena’s story demonstrates, one way to respond to the gap between rich and
poor countries is to close it privately—by moving to a better paying job.” What would you expect a
neoliberal to say about Rowena’s situation and her solution to it?
3. Hochschild argues that love is “an unfairly distributed resource—extracted from one place and enjoyed
somewhere else.” What does she mean by this? Do you buy her argument? Why or why not?
4. Towards the end of the essay, Hochschild discusses possible responses to the problem. What did you
make of her suggestions? Do you think there is a problem here and, if so, how do you think it should be
addressed?
“Global Care Chains”
Rosalba Todaro and Irma Arriagada
1. Todaro and Arriagada’s essay discusses care more broadly than Hochschild’s piece. What are some
occupations and activities besides child care that Todaro and Arriagada include in their discussion of
care?
2. “What are “global care chains”? Who benefits the most from such a system? Who suffers? Why does a
discussion of the global care chains require that we think about the intersections of gender, class,
ethnicity, race, nationality, and immigration status?
3. Care work, according to the reading, is devalued because it is associated with women and other