'The good, the bad and the ugly': societal understandings framing opportunities for female entrepreneurship in care

Abstract

This article explores how societal understandings frame care sector entrepreneurship in Finland. Two reforms in the care market are analysed through Bourdieu's concepts of cultural and symbolic capital. The reforms emphasise the relevance of technology and tangible assets to regional economic growth and the financial survival of the public sector. In contrast, the benefits of non-technological types of assets are marginalised. Marginal opportunities are based on caring skills, whereas economically relevant opportunities are based on technology. Due to the horizontal segregation, women's opportunities are marginalised. This emancipating article highlights how self-evident societal understandings make investments in non-technological innovations look inferior to technological ones. The analysis is limited to the Finnish care service sector and its two care market reforms.