CO-RESPONSIBILITY IN THE INFORMAL CARE OF DEPENDENT PERSONS: DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION IN CHILEAN PUBLIC POLICY

Abstract

In the scenario of a global care crisis, this study addresses how the co-responsibility of care and self-care of the informal caregiver of dependent people is discursively constructed in Chilean public policy. To this end, an interpretative methodology, qualitative method and through a documentary approach text of the Support and Care Subsystem are analyzed from the perspective of pragmatic discourse. The results show a marked discourse about an overburdened female caregiver who self-manages her self-care with little support, and then sees the emergence of a family that, managed by the caregiver, must begin to take charge of the co-responsibility of caregiving. After that, a subsidiary State emerges that supports this care entrepreneur and her family when there are not enough resources. We conclude that this scaffolding is supported on the shoulders of women, maintaining the invisibility of opportunities that redistribute care with greater social justice.