What are global care chains in simple terms?

Care passed across borders: migrant women care for richer families while others care for their own.

The care gap left in origin countries when care workers emigrate.

Global Care Chains

👥 Sociology By CampusDown Wiki Editorial Team Last updated October 27, 2026

Global care chains are linked chains of care across borders: households in rich countries hire migrant women to care for children and elders, while those women's own families are cared for by relatives or poorer women at home. Sociologist Arlie Hochschild proposed the concept in 2000.

Contents

1. Concept
2. Extensions and critique
3. Policy
4. FAQ
5. References

Concept

Hochschild (2000) described Filipina women caring for US children while their own children were cared for by relatives or poorer women. Parreñas (2000; 2001) analysed this as an international division of reproductive labour, echoing world-systems theory.

Extensions and critique

Yeates (2004; 2012) argued the concept should extend beyond nannies to nurses, care workers and institutions. Lutz and Palenga-Möllenbeck (2012) examined care drain and migrant care workers' citizenship. The chains overlap with transnationalism.

Policy

Williams (2012) compared how cash-for-care, migration and labour rules expand migrant care work in Europe. Families rely more on migrants in care regimes with little public care, linking to defamilialisation.

FAQ

What are global care chains in simple terms?: Care passed across borders: migrant women care for richer families while others care for their own.
What is care drain?: The care gap left in origin countries when care workers emigrate.

Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26

References

Hochschild, A. R. (2000). Global care chains and emotional surplus value. In W. Hutton & A. Giddens (Eds.), On the edge: Living with global capitalism (pp. 130–146). Jonathan Cape. The essay that coined the concept.
Parreñas, R. S. (2000). Migrant Filipina domestic workers and the international division of reproductive labor. Gender & Society, 14(4), 560–580. International division of reproductive labour.
Parreñas, R. S. (2001). Servants of globalization: Women, migration, and domestic work. Stanford University Press. Ethnography of Filipina domestic workers.
Yeates, N. (2004). Global care chains: Critical reflections and lines of enquiry. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 6(3), 369–391. Critical extension of the concept.
Lutz, H., & Palenga-Möllenbeck, E. (2012). Care workers, care drain, and care chains: Reflections on care, migration, and citizenship. Social Politics, 19(1), 15–37. Care drain and citizenship.
Williams, F. (2012). Converging variations in migrant care work in Europe. Journal of European Social Policy, 22(4), 363–376. Migrant care work across Europe.
Yeates, N. (2012). Global care chains: A state-of-the-art review and future directions in care transnationalization research. Global Networks, 12(2), 135–154. State-of-the-art review.

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This article was last updated on October 27, 2026. It is based on widely recognized original works and textbooks; when citing it in a paper, please check the original sources listed in the references.