In France and among our European neighbours, more and more people are being employed to take care of our sick or vulnerable parents, children, relatives and neighbours. They are called life assistants, but they occupy a strategic place in the organization of society.

Essential, though devalued. As a social link and a public health solution, the profession is shaken by the explosion of the human service sector. The imperatives and consequences of the ultra-liberal economy, boosted by digital start-ups, shake up the rules of the social game as well as the value of work, both in the major metropolises and in the deep countryside.

The evolution of these domestic services professions demonstrates a rapid reversal of values... For what does not pay is depreciated, and the priceless human factor becomes negligible quantity.