Guest: Prof. Elena Moore, Principal Investigator. I am an Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cape Town

 A team from UCT’s Sociology Department, led by Prof Elena Moore, has out together a study which examines the tensions and struggles over elder care that  are happening in South Africa between family caregivers, care 

workers and the state.  These struggles are experienced and 

expressed at the familial and community level but are best understood by examining how the state has de-funded facilities  in favour of ‘ageing in place’ without any additional investment  in community and home-based care support. The findings reveal  that stresses on unpaid and paid carers are expressed in terms of  individual failings and interpersonal conflict rather than through a  socio-political contextual lens. These findings contribute to how a 

familialist care regime impacts the everyday personal relationships 

between paid and unpaid carers of older persons.