Reading global care chains as migrant trajectories: A theoretical framework for the understanding of structural change

In the study of the global restructuring of care work, the 'global care chain' (GCC) has emerged as a predominant analytical framework. The GCC literature addresses gendered social change from myriad angles of mobility, but it also takes the structures of global political economy (GPE) somewhat for granted. The literature focuses on the unequal global structures and their role in the production of mobile care workers. However, it does not address the ways in which this global movement of care also constantly transforms the structures at the micro-level. After reviewing the GCC literature, the article argues that, in order to understand these incessant transformations, the global care chains should be read as migrant trajectories. The article provides a general definition for the term migrant trajectory, as well as an empirical example of how it can be used in the study of the global movement of care.