{"id":126870,"date":"2025-04-03T17:17:26","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T16:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/?p=126870"},"modified":"2025-04-03T17:18:39","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T16:18:39","slug":"a-care-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/a-care-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"A care in the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the term care economy is arguably an oxymoron, Tim Jackson, best-selling author of Prosperity without Growth<\/em> and renowned ecological economist, is exploring what an economy that had care at its centre might look like in his latest offering.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The result is a book that brings together economics, medicine, Greek mythology, and much more, creating a fascinating exploration of history, capitalism, and Jackson’s own health issues. The Mint<\/em> caught up with Jackson to gain a better understanding of the book\u2019s origins and key ideas.<\/p>\n

Key points<\/h5>\n
Origins and Framing of “The Care Economy”<\/h6>\n
    \n
  • Evolved from ideas in “Prosperity Without Growth” about low-impact, quality-of-life focused economic activities<\/li>\n
  • Deliberately written in accessible style, avoiding academic\/policy jargon<\/li>\n
  • Title initially felt problematic to Jackson but grew on him as a provocative framing<\/li>\n
  • Positions care as central to economy, challenging typical “hard” economic concepts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    Care and Health Systems<\/h6>\n
      \n
    • Explores historical shift from holistic “care” approaches to biochemical “cure” focus in medicine<\/li>\n
    • Argues pharmaceutical\/healthcare industries became growth-driven, often at odds with true care<\/li>\n
    • Presents disease as part of body’s restorative processes, challenging purely negative framing<\/li>\n
    • Critiques over-reliance on pharmaceutical interventions vs. addressing root causes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      Food Systems and Care<\/strong><\/h6>\n
        \n
      • Traces how post-WWII food industry prioritized cheap calories and profitability over health<\/li>\n
      • Describes scientific engineering of “irresistible” foods optimized for consumption, not nutrition<\/li>\n
      • Links ultra-processed foods to chronic disease epidemic, framing as systemic issue beyond individual choice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
        Symbolic Health and Care<\/strong><\/h6>\n
          \n
        • Introduces concept of “symbolic health” relating to mental wellbeing, self-esteem<\/li>\n
        • Cautions that pursuit of symbolic health can lead to problematic behaviors if divorced from balance-seeking care ethic<\/li>\n
        • Uses Trump as example of potentially destructive pursuit of symbolic health through power accumulation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
          Care as Restorative Balance <\/strong><\/h6>\n
            \n
          • Defines true care as processes that restore balance, physiologically and societally<\/li>\n
          • Contrasts with actions that may claim to be “care” but create imbalance (e.g. arms races justified as “defense”)<\/li>\n
          • Positions this balance-seeking definition as key to avoiding misuse of care concept<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            While the term care economy is arguably an oxymoron, Tim Jackson, best-selling author of Prosperity without Growth and renowned ecological economist, is exploring what an economy that had care at … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":126871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60,58,59,2],"tags":[152,1204,132,2794,1112,164],"class_list":["post-126870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-civil-society","category-government","category-health-sector","category-interviews","tag-capitalism","tag-care-economy","tag-economics","tag-mar-2025","tag-post-growth","tag-tim-jackson","post_format-post-format-video"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}