Health geography's voluntary turn: a view from western France

This paper examines the potential for prevailing Anglo-American perspectives on voluntarism to inform understanding of health and social care internationally. Focusing on the économie sociale et solidaire and its involvement in the secteur médico-social in France, it evaluates the transferability of a theorization about the evolving role of voluntary organizations and volunteers for the purpose of interpreting research on service provision in ageing communities. A case study of local associations is analyzed to uncover their emergence within evolving spaces of care, how they facilitate adjustment and create opportunities for resistance to the dual challenges of ageing and restructuring as well as the complexity underlying their multifaceted responses. The findings contribute to understanding the link between voluntarism, health and place, and address calls to expand the international scope of health geography within the 'voluntary turn' in health policy and research.