Grace joined the Centre for Care in April 2022 as a Research Associate working on Digital Care. Previously, Grace worked at Sheffield University Management School – teaching on topics including Industrial Relations and Work and Employment in the 21st Century. Her PhD, also at the Management School, was funded through an ESRC 1+3 grant. It examined applications of the ‘organising model’ of trade unionism in England’s social care sector. While studying, Grace also attended London Critical Theory School, and prior to her PhD she undertook an MA in Social Research at Sheffield and an MSc in Social Theory (at the University of Bristol). Other research which Grace has worked on includes a collaboration with Doncaster City Council on youth unemployment, a project for Unite the Union on ‘fire and rehire’ practices, and research with Sheffield City Council on home care provision. Outside of academia, Grace has worked as an Adviser at Acas – providing advice on employment legislation – and worked in the social care sector as a domiciliary care worker and support worker.
In her role at the Centre for Care, Grace will be working with Dr Kate Hamblin to examine the effects of technology changes on paid and unpaid care provision. The research will consider whether, and in what circumstances, digitalisation has positive or negative consequences for stakeholders. It will focus on inequalities of technology implementation, the impact of fragmentation and financialisation, and the nature of the labour process.
Research interests
- Effects of digitalisation on forms of labour and trajectories of care.
- State policy on care provision.
- The impact of employment law on working conditions.
- Trade union strategies within the social care sector and theorisations of unionism.
- Labour theory of value and the circulation of capital.
Publications
- Allard, C., Whitfield, G J. (2023). “Guilt, Care, and the Ideal Worker: Comparing Guilt Among Working Carers and Care Workers.” Gender, Work & Organization: 1– 17.
- Whitfield, G., Hamblin, K. (2022) Technology in social care: review of the UK policy landscape. Centre for Care Working Paper 1, CIRCLE, Sheffield: University of Sheffield
- Whitfield, G.J., 2021. ‘You couldn’t have a heart and want to strike’: Mobilising workers in England’s social care sector. Capital & Class.
- Whitfield, G.J., 2021. Book Review: The Hospital: Life, Death, and Dollars in a Small American Town, by Brian Alexander. ILR Review.
- Whitfield, G.J., 2020. Book Review: Cabin Crew Conflict: The British Airways Dispute 2009–11, by Phil Taylor and Sian Moore. British Journal of Industrial Relations.
- ‘Stay at Home Care Pilot Evaluation’, 2018. co-authored with Dr Diane Burns and Dr Cate Goodlad, evaluating provision of home care for Sheffield City Council.
- ‘The Trade Union Act and the ILO: implications of a widening ideological chasm’ policy brief and blog ‘Work stoppages and walkouts against strikes: how disagreement over freedom of association is threatening tripartism at the ILO’ for GLOSS Sheffield, 2017.