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This article examines the labor control processes being implemented in Italy's recently developed temporary help industry.The social science literature generally predicts that voluntary forms of labor control require genuine compromises between management and its workforce. Based on interviews, observational fieldwork, and analysis of industry documents, the authors compare this expectation against the details of the Italian case. Overall, they find that management is attempting to build consensus not by granting temporary workers meaningful concessions, as the literature would generally suggest, but rather by reframing temporary work as a viable opportunity for upward social mobility, and reinforcing these ideological messages with coercion when needed.These findings suggest that ideological power may play a larger role in the labor control process than previously recognized, and that Gramsci's theory of ideological hegemony deserves greater attention from scholars studying such matters. KEY WORDSGramsci / hegemony / labor control / temporary help industry

In recent years in Italy, population ageing, rising female labour-market participation, and the restructuring of the welfare state have combined to create increased demand for long-term care services for frail and dependent older people. The rising demand has increasingly been met by immigrant women of different nationalities, and to a lesser extent immigrant men, who are hired to provide individualised care in people's own homes and other private settings. While there have been many studies of this growing phenomenon, very little attention has been paid to the reasons that bring family care-givers to choose this care-support option. To begin to fill the gap, this paper reports the finding of a qualitative study of 26 family members who were caring for a disabled elder. Semi-structured interviews lasting between 60 and 100 minutes and that covered various aspects of long-term care in family households were conducted. The participants' responses indicate that they did not choose immigrant home eldercare assistants solely for economic reasons but also to be consistent with cultural, moral and traditional understandings of family responsibilities and care. They also provide valuable findings and insights into Italian attitudes towards the welfare state and the carelabour market. While the wealthiest respondent declared a clear predilection for the free-market and a desire to bypass the state, the majority of the respondents advocated a stronger role of the welfare state in helping people cope with the increased burden of long-term care.

In recent years a number of important studies have explored the new international division of reproductive labor, but those works have concentrated, for the most part, on one end of the life cycle: nannies and childcare. This article focuses on the other end of it, home eldercare work. Jobs falling under this label encompass a variety of work situations but the title suggests a job that is more homogeneous than the occupation actually is. This article explores, through the narratives of the workers and the exploration of this 24-hour job, what it means to work as a home eldercare assistant.

The world of today is aging and is doing so at a great speed. People are living longer and this represents one of the greatest achievements of the past century, but often an extension of life expectancy does not correspond with an extension of healthy lives. Aging populations, particularly those with a high percentage of oldest old, are often burdened with chronic conditions that require extended long-term care. Who is going to provide this care and in what forms are key problems that will soon affect a growing number of postindustrial and mid-income countries. This book explores the organization of long-term care in Italy, a country already in the midst of an eldercare crisis. There the answer to this problem has taken the shape of home eldercare assistance, an arrangement whereby long-term care services are bought in the market in the form of private and individualized assistance by families sometimes with economic support provided by the state. The providers of these services, commonly known as badanti (minders), are, for the most part, immigrant women, less often men, coming from different areas of the world. Caring for a Living analyzes the global, regional, and local processes that participated in the development of this new organization of care, paying close attention to the role that the state, Italian families, and the workers themselves play in shaping and in defining it.