The good, the bad and the grey areas of care: a review of the anthropology of care in health care

Abstract

Current societal transformations in health care and other fields of care have led to an enormous increase in the number of publications in the anthropology of care. Yet, the field turns out to be fragmented and complex. To provide some orientation, we present results of a scoping review on empirical research on paid care work in health-care settings. We structure our findings according to whether the authors tend to focus on ‘good’, ‘bad’ or ‘grey’ areas of care. Anthropology might contribute to the field of care studies by making aspects of care visible that often remain concealed otherwise.