Between moral acceptance and objective needs: outsourcing domestic and care services in Germany and in international comparison

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Natascha Nisic
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2018 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 404875417

An essential part of social welfare production involves unpaid, private care work in the household that is provided primarily by women. However, the significant increases in the labor force attachment of women, demographic shifts, and the ongoing cutback of social security systems are challenging the societal arrangements of paid and unpaid labor within the household. The outsourcing of domestic chores and care work to a third party in exchange for money is thereby increasingly seen as a solution to the resulting work-life conflicts and competing time pressures. However, as yet there only a small number of studies which systematically investigate the household demand for domestic services, both nationally and internationally. Within these few existing studies quantitatively oriented economic approaches prevail, which, however, yield inconsistent findings and appear limited from a sociological viewpoint; whereas sociologically informed qualitative studies provide valuable but hardly generalizable insights. Against this background this study aims to provide a systematic theoretical and quantitative-empirical analysis of the trends and determinants of outsourcing domestic labor in Germany and in international comparison – from a very sociological perspective. The central hypothesis states that in addition to factors emphasized by economic theory, such as time and budget constraints, further crucial determinants must be taken into account in order to understand the outsourcing behavior of households. First, these factors comprise cultural framings of privacy, family life and gender identity which are inherently linked to care and household tasks. Second, as emphasized by economic sociology, problems of trust and quality that underlie economic exchange relationships present important determinants as to whether outsourced domestic services are accepted as a substitute for own care work. Third, institutional determinants and features of the welfare state will shape opportunities and constraints for the outsourcing and labor division decisions of households. The empirical study uses advanced regression methods based on secondary national and international data, which contain information on consumption of paid domestic services, child care, elderly care, food-away-from-home and repair services. In addition, a primary survey within the Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam) was conducted and is used for testing the specific hypotheses derived from cultural and economic sociology. This research project not only provides comprehensive insights into the determinants of outsourcing domestic labor and the potential for new societal care arrangements, but also sheds light on the relevance of cultural framings for economic processes and for social inequality arising from the differential use of such services.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants