Project description
Comparing how corporate investment in long-term elderly care is supported, normalised and questioned in Europe
In recent decades, systemic changes in Europe’s care economy have turned essential social services into profit-driven enterprises. While this creates investment opportunities, it also introduces systemic risks that compromise care standards, staff working conditions and patient outcomes. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the FinCare project will investigate how the financialisation of long-term care is justified, normalised or challenged in European welfare systems. Using a discursive institutionalist framework that combines historical policy analysis, discourse analysis and social network analysis, it aims to provide the first cross-national analysis of how political narratives and coalitions influence the financialisation of long-term care in Austria, Ireland and the Netherlands.
Objective
FinCare investigates how the financialisation of long-term care is legitimised, normalised, or contested within European welfare states. Focusing on Austria, Ireland, and the Netherlands as contrasting but comparable cases, the project applies a Discursive Institutionalist framework and a multi-method qualitative design combining historical policy analysis, discourse analysis, and elements of social network analysis. By mapping the discourses of care financialisation, identifying enabling or constraining institutional mechanisms, and comparing patterns of political (de-)legitimation, FinCare will generate the first comparative account of how discourses and coalitions shape the financialisation of care. The project will advance scholarship by filling a critical gap in the literature on the role of institutions in the financialisation of welfare states, producing novel theory and conceptual tools adaptable to other policy domains, and strengthening interdisciplinary links between political sociology, social policy, and the political economy of care. Its findings will contribute to ongoing debates on equity, accountability, and sustainability in long-term care, directly informing policymaking through collaboration with European and international policy bodies. FinCare will also enhance the researcher’s career trajectory by consolidating expertise in comparative policy analysis and stakeholder engagement, positioning her as a recognised expert at the interface of research and policymaking. Societal impact will be achieved through open-access publications, targeted policy briefs, and wide dissemination to academic, policy, and civil society audiences.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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1010 Wien
Austria
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