Sociological Research in New York City’s Paid Care Division: A Case Study

• In Event: 1423 - Practice Symposium- Lightning Round on Career Paths, Transitions, and Opportunities for Sociologists Beyond Academia

Abstract

In 2017, the New York City government established a Paid Care Division, housed with the City’s Office of Labor Policy and Standards. The Division is charged with developing innovative programs and services to raise job standards for home care aides, nannies, and house cleaners, and has a related statutory mandate to engage in and promote research on paid care. From the outset, the Division has sought to incorporate sociological theory and methods into both its programmatic and research work. It is the only governmental office of its kind in the United States.

The Division has conducted survey and focus group research with paid care workers (in collaboration with sociologists based in academic institutions) and used federal data sources to perform demographic and geographic analysis of paid care workers and their employers locally. The Division also has considered findings from social theory concerning the importance of race, gender, and other social statuses in shaping paid care work. In applying these sociological practices, the Division has sought to ground its work in the perspectives and daily realities of paid care workers, connect with paid care workers through their organizations, networks and communities, and focus attention on the underlying factors that lead to paid care workers’ low status within the city’s economy and society.

As a research analyst (and sole sociologist) in the Office of Labor Policy and Standards, much of my work has involved collaborating with lawyers, economists, outreach and other program staff to shape the new Division and ensure its accountability to the marginalized workers whose rights it is tasked with protecting.

The presentation will provide audience members with a case study of how a local government institution with a social justice mission can use sociological practice to address the concrete problems of how best to articulate and advance its objectives.

Author

• Brittany D Rawlinson, NYC Department of Consumer Affairs