‘Collective consumption’ revisited: Analysing modes of provision and access to childcare services in Montréal, Quebec

Abstract

This article attempts to clarify some conceptual issues with respect to childcare services and their accessibility to different groups of potential users. It is argued that conceptualizations based on the concept of ‘collective consumption’ have severe shortcomings for the study of childcare provision, not least among which is the fact that most children are cared for through ‘non-organized’ modes of childcare in which the state is not directly involved. Yet it remains essential to develop a theoretically-informed understanding of the different ways that childcare can be provided—a conceptualization in which the wider social policy environment is related to the particularities of local situations—because access to childcare can be an important determinant of parents' employment opportunities and family living standards. Moreover, access can be differentiated not only by class but also by its intersection with ethnicity and family structure. The childcare question needs to be resituated in the larger context of the relationship between economic restructuring and the reshaping of productive work. The reconceptualization developed here is used to explore modes of provision and access to childcare in Montréal in the context of the recent history of public policy and political struggles around this issue in the Province of Quebec.