Arguing that care is a fundamental, everyday feature of human life, Joan Tronto sets out to develop a working definition of care that can be applied a practically both ethically and politically. Understanding care not as an emotion or abstract principle but rather as a practice, Tronto largely succeeds in crafting a compelling and useful theory of care. Recognizing care's potential to upset power hierarchies and to seismically change the political landscape, Tronto argues that care is a four phase, ongoing, reflexive, and embodied process. This is a crucial addition to the feminist care theory/ethics literature, and is a refreshing departure from other versions of care ethics which focusing on oppressive, anti-feminist understandings of care or care as a sentiment or abstract principle. Tronto argues that while marginalized folks have disproportionately been forced to care for the privileged, everyone can care, everyone needs care, and everyone should want to care.

My only critique is that Tronto seems bound to some notion of political liberalism (e.g. liberal democracy is best political system, communitarianism is always already bad, the individual is a primary unit of political analysis) which I think ultimately undermines/contradicts her larger points at times. But beyond that and a few confusing examples, this is an excellent text that was fascinating and insightful to read, and has actually informed my everyday political and ethical thinking.