EXPLOITATION OR OPPORTUNITY - THE CONTRADICTIONS OF CHILD-CARE POLICYIN THE CONTEMPORARY UNITED-STATES

This analysis reveals the complex and contradictory role of the state in the provision of paid child care for low-income parents. In this st udy, I elucidate the processes that create a pool of labor for the wor k of state-subsidized, home-based child care. Intersecting forces of g ender, cultural and racial/ethnic identity, and class relations influe nce women's daily lives and opportunities. Together, these forces shap e women's commitment to mothering, economic need, employment options ( or lack thereof), and an ''ethic of care.'' These converging relations hips, in turn, influence women's decisions whether or not to sell thei r care-giving labor to the state. Simultaneously, an analysis of speci fic state child-care policies reveals the ways these policies are inhe rently gendered and specifically linked to definitions of productive l abor situated within the ideology and practices of classical liberalis m. By positioning this analysis of government policy and workers' opti ons within a broader political economic context, I seek to make visibl e the gendered, racial/ethnic, cultural, and class relations that are central to both the ideologies of the welfare state and the provision of welfare state services.