Care services are becoming very crucial in contemporary societies, for the future of work as well as for gender questions. An economic sociology focused on networks and markets is not sufficient to deal with this matter because of the importance of household economy, non profit organizations and public services in this field of activities. A pluralist economic sociology is needed, mixing welfare pluralism and plural economy approaches. This article presents such a theoretical framework and its first applications to international comparison and national study, completed by a program for further research.