Citizen Involvement and Co-Production of Care in Vulnerable Communities

The sudden advent of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a need of help and care for many citizens, and at the same time the collective crises spurred a widespread desire to “do something” and participate in mutual aid practices. The pandemic disrupted the ordinary caring arrangement in a lot of welfare state. Usually, much care in different countries is provided by professionals working in public welfare systems, and when some of this care provision stopped due to the corona lockdown volunteers stepped in to take over caring responsibilities. Various issues are raised by the deployment of these practices which are becoming institutionalized by government in different countries. In this session, we want to bring together researchers who are interested in citizens practices and bottom-up social and institutional transformations. How do citizens' practices contribute to the co-production of care in vulnerable communities? How to describe these practices? With these practices, are we in front of a democratization of public services and institutions in which citizens would have a place through their practice or should we see a new form of precarious work which accentuates inequalities between workers within public institutions? How to understand the tensions between citizen involvement and the institutionalization of citizen community practices? Communications that address both the theoretical and methodological issues related to research on citizen practices and the co-production of care are welcome.