Empathy and Power in Live-in Care

Live-in care, a form of home-based care in which migrant caregivers live in the homes of the care-recipient, is a complex care system in which both interpersonal relationships and power relations play a central role, are not stable and are constantly (re)negotiated. In live-in arrangements, empathy is not only exercised as an emotional ability to empathize with another person's situation (Auriemma 2013), but also in the context of instrumental power, as the behavior of those involved is often influenced by ‘controlling the behavior of others through threats and promises’ (Popitz 1992, transl. by authors).

In our contribution, we want to explore the relationship between power and empathy in the home care of people with dementia by live-in carers. We analyzed interviews with live-in carers, care-recipients and their relatives as well as participant observations in households.

The study shows that empathy in home care by Eastern European live-in carers cannot be separated from power as a phenomenon. While empathy forms the foundation for building trust between the parties in the care arrangement, it also harbors the potential to reinforce existing power asymmetries. This is particularly evident in the relationship between relatives and live-in carers: Relatives often act out of empathic motives by responding to needs of live-in carers. However, this empathy might function as grounds to expect more care as contractually stipulated. Our findings show that live-in carers also use empathy towards the care-recipient or their relatives to improve their own working conditions. Empathy thus becomes the basis for regulating labor relations.

Analyzing the ambivalent role of empathy in these arrangements expands the predominantly positive portrayals of empathy in research. It illustrates that empathy in asymmetrical power relations can function not only as a means of strengthening social bonds, but also as an instrument of control and the exercise of power.