Abstract

Marketization has been a widespread phenomenon in the German long-term and health care sector since the 1990s. The marketization process has also gained plenty of interest in the academic field with special attention paid to the effects of the logic of competition on non-profit organizations as the dividing line between for-profit and non-profit becomes blurred. This article focuses on political-economic changes within the long-term care (LTC) infrastructure in Germany as well as on its concrete effects on working conditions and care practices (employment types and hierarchies; working hours and staffing; time to care and quality of care). This essay aims at: a) demonstrating the effects of marketization on care providers regardless of economic ownership, and b) shifting the focus of scientific research toward the differences between non-profit and for-profit economic ownership rather than concentrating on the elements they have in common. Further research is needed to fully illustrate these differences.