老龄化农村社区养老的弱反馈模式研究——以W县魏村为例

Research on"Weak Feedback Model"of Elderly Raising in Aging Rural Community——A Case Study of Wei Village in W County

随着老龄化的加深,中国农村老龄化社区增多。西北W县一个老龄化农村社区显示,当地家庭结构的变迁以及不同时期家庭内部析产等能够影响老龄化农村社区治理中的养老方式。养老作为家庭保障的重要内容,在家庭结构的安排中实现。改革开放以来,农村家庭出现核心化、少子化、老龄化,人口流动加快,建立于小农经济之上的家庭文化和家庭结构发生了相应的变化。“家庭养老”在观念和实践层面都遇到挑战。人们随之对自己的养老方式做出调整,即将进入老年阶段的村民有目的地保留一部分土地作为养老资本,选择“自我养老”。老龄化农村社区养老的“弱反馈模式”,既区别于费孝通“反馈模式”描述中的中国传统养老方式,又区别于西方的“接力模式”。父代在抚育上依然不遗余力,子代的反馈因社会经济和人口结构的变化而变得比较脆弱,但子代和父代之间依然互帮互助,形成养老的“弱反馈模式”。

With the development of industrialization and urbanization,a large number of young and middle-aged residents in rural areas have moved to the cities.According to the data of the Seventh Census,the population living in cities and towns is 901.99 million,accounting for 63.89%of the total population.The trend of rural hollowing and the increasing of empty-nest families make the aging degree of many agricultural communities higher than that of cities and towns,and rural aging communities have become a common phenomenon.Through the field study of an aging rural community,Wei Village in Northwest China,this paper attempts to discuss the changes of rural elderly raising mode in the governance of aging rural communities.As an important part of family security,elderly raising is realized in the with their sons and the way of family property distribution for the preparation of their late life.The farmers in the aging community investigated in this paper purposefully reserve part of their land as self-support endowment capital and choose"self-support raising"life.Compared with the feedback mode of Chinese traditional elderly care described by Fei Xiaotong,the current elderly care in aging rural communities is"weak feedback mode",which is different from the traditional""feedback mode"and"relay mode"in western countries,in which the later generation's responsibility in providing for the aged are not forced.Under the"weak feedback mode",the parents still spare no effort in upbringing,while the feedback of the children becomes vulnerable due to the changes of social economy,culture,family and population structure.However the children and parents still support each other to a certain extent,forming a"weak feedback mode"of rural elderly raising.The residents in Wei Village surveyed in this paper made such a summary of their old age life necessities,and they said"when people are old,they must have their own nest(independent room or residence),wife or husband,and savings."An independent room is the basic condition for self-support raising.Wife or husband,the most important role later in life,can accompany and support all around in economic,daily care and emotional life.Generally speaking,if both husband and wife are alive and one of them is healthy,the quality of their later life is not bad.However,life and death cannot be changed,one of the couple will be destined left behind.The importance of children's care for their parent becomes significant at this time.The quality of daily life of the elderly and the attitude of their children basically depend on their health and savings,so the elderly are very concerned about how to save and keep their money,or to keep the land that can be changed into money.The seniors in Wei Village generally havetheir own rooms or residences.Therefore,they are preparing for their old age life in two aspects:one is to control the land as self raising capital,the other is to coordinate the relationship well with their children,including sons and daughters.Although the seniors in Wei Village generally have their own rooms or residences,while they can not ensure they are able to spend all their later life there.Traditionally,the old couple distributes all their capitals,including land to each son when sons get married.They live with one of their sons,usually the youngest one,to help his family,like working on the farmland,raising livestock,cooking or helping care for the grandchildren when the old couple are physically capable of working,and this son mainly provides proper care for the parents when they lose self-care ability.This is the feedback mode as Fei Xiaotong had described.While with the increase of life expectancy of the elderly,the quality of children's caring for their parents is decreasing.When the old aged wife or husband passed away,and the left one loses self-care ability,the next generation always shifts raising responsibility onto each other.The compromise is to take the parent to each one's home for average days or months,therefore,the parent has to leave their own room or residence and spend their later life by taking turns in their children's home.The incapacitated elderly have no discourse because of their underprivileged condition in inter generational relationships.The quality of their late life entirely depends on the morality and filial piety of their children.Traditionally,the farmers widowed in their sixties or seventies would not get remarried,but totally depended on their children in family feedback raising mode.The average life span was 70 in the late 1980s in Wei Village.While now,the average life expectancy reaches 80,and the one of longevity in the village passed away at the age of 95.With the deepening of aging society,elderly men and women tend to find a partner after widowing,but the situation in Wei Village and the surrounding rural areas is that the elderly only accompany each other,they don't get married in case of economic or other dispute.The accompany among the seniors is conditional.Firstly,both of them should be relatively healthy.Secondly,the man side needs to have economic strength and pay the woman side about 2000 RMB per month.If an elderly man has no property,it depends on whether his children are willing to pay to help him find a woman with long-term company.The women in the accompany relationship are neither wives nor nannies.They are partners.Due to the growth of life expectancy,both men and women seniors tend to choose partners to accompany each other,which can reduce their dependence on their children in daily caring and emotional support.However,their relationship is not as reliable as their first marriage,but more rely on their health and money.If the woman side loses health,her children will take her back home.If the man side loses health or no money to pay,the woman side will also leave.The elderly in Wei Village are diligent and thrifty.They save actively by working on farmland or raising livestock.The parent generation do not give out all their land to their children like traditional family arrangement.They keep some of the land,and make money by and for themselves.Except for the poor households in the village,almost every senior family has savings.They don't talk about death,but they save money to protect themselves in two situations:one is illness,the other is unexpected longevity.Of course,the elderly like to live a long life,but if they live to 90 or even longer,and tragically lose health,it is difficult for them to control their own life quality.Saving money enhances their sense of security.If their children do not provide proper care for them when they need,their savings and land will help them get some discourses and exchange children's caring.We can see whether in terms of economic and emotional support,or in daily life,the elderly in Wei Village do not rely on their children as much as the traditional feedback mode.They spend life separately from their married sons.Because women's position has improved and daughters also play important roles in caring and raising parents,the gender preference for their children now have changed in Wei Village.Neither the younger nor the elder generation do not pursue more children and more happiness as the Chinese traditional culture.Of course,this is related to the modernization of agriculture and the change of production mode,but the idea of succession also changes.Therefore,the gender of children in the village is much more equal than that in the tradition,and the younger families do not insist on having boys.People in the village often say"if your children are gold,one is enough,if your children are clod,even ten is useless".The implication is that one good filial child is enough,despite of the gender.Starting from the ideal society described by Confucius thousands of years ago that"there are caring and protection for the aged until their last day,there is appropriate employment for the able-bodied,and there are nourishment and education for the children and youth.There are kindness and compassion for the widows and widowers,for the orphans,for the childless and for all who find themselves alone in the world,as well as for the disabled and sick",""elderly raising"has always been an eternal topic in Chinese society.China has established urban and rural social security system,but the security level in rural areas is relatively low.Now the social security system is experiencing the road of development from establishment to perfection.In the feedback mode of traditional elderly family security system,the role of children in parents raising is guaranteed,while in the weak family feedback mode,the role of children is insufficient.The elderly themselves,social security and community service all three need to play roles in the self-supporting rural elderly endowment system.There has been a significant institutional guarantee for rural elderly care in the 21th century,but the distribution of rural elderly population is not coordinated with economic development,and the aging of rural population is much ahead of economic development.The rural community service is affected by geographical location,service facilities,service personnel,service funds and service efficiency,so the service capacity is gradually declining.Meanwhile,the social participation of rural elderly is low.These existing problems need to be considered and improved in the social governance of rural aging communities.In the process of modernization and urbanization,the family has fewer children and the population is aging.No matter whether the children are filial or not,the maintenance of family elderly endowment needs the support of the community participation.Now some seniors in rural areas around Wei Village choose or only can choose spending later life in senior houses,which actually cost more both for the seniors and for the government than making the seniors live in the community,not to mention that the quality and the degree of specialization of institutional elderly endowment are not good enough.Therefore,both the government and the social organizations need to make careful plans of the community elderly endowment scheme,and provide condition for community raising.At the current stage,at least,we can carry forward the essence of filial piety culture and the traditional virtues of respecting the aged.In particular,we should educate young people to respect their parents and respect the elderly.At the same time,the community should also build the culture to encourage residents to take care of each other,help and protect each other,and give play to the spirit of volunteerism.Before the community elderly endowment scheme is carried out,the community should encourage the elderly to participate in community affairs and help them improve their physical and mental health.The elderly endowment in Wei Village is not satisfactory enough,and the power and status of the elderly,especially those who are in their 80s and lack self-care ability are declining,while generally speaking,the elderly can basically spend their late years in peace through their own preparation,the support of their children and thec coverage of the social security system.Whether the rural elderly residents choose family endowment or self support raising mode,it is a way of self-regulation and integration within rural families before the rural old-age security system is embedded enough to produce an alternative role.