Commentary: On the transformation of the moral economy of care

The documentation amassed in these provisional assessments of the changing terms and conditions of psychiatric work amounts to a reconfiguring of the moral economy of care - those root value-laden assumptions about what const itutes proper conduct in a service or treatment context. Such a transformat ion appears to have been in the works for some time, but the acuity with wh ich it afflicts the consciousness of present-day actors suggests that a thr eshold has been crossed. The loss of "slippage'' in everyday clinical work, limited recourse of those who would resist the trend, deep "persuasive'' i mpact on non-believers of being forced to "go through the motions,'' all ar gue that the ethos of psychiatric work has been thoroughly infiltrated by e fficiency, with costs yet to be reckoned. Anthropology may have been slow t o take cognizance of such trends, but its improvisational methods and flexi ble tools should be of use in mapping such costs, direct and indirect, and any countervailing benefits.