“家长权力”的倒置:养老机构中的生命晚期代际权力关系

Inversion of“Power of the Head of Household”:Intergenerational Power Relations in Elderly Care Institutions

本文通过在三个养老机构进行的田野调查、配对访谈和文本分析,探讨了机构养老如何对生命晚期代际权力关系产生影响。研究发现,代际权力关系在养老机构中发生了“倒置”——父母变成了“孩子”,而子女成为拥有家长权力的“父母”。在照护支持中,子女从照护提供者转变成了父母的“监护人”,通过履行照护安排决策和照护质量监督责任,他们的“家长权力”得到了机构正式管理规范的加强和制度化;在社会支持中,子女通过担任“保护者”和“教化者”来帮助父母管理社会关系和实现再社会化,其“家长权力”通过非正式互动渗入至老人机构生活的各个方面。机构养老这一照护安排并非子女的遗弃之举,反而有强化自下而上的代际支持的可能。

Through fieldwork,paired interviews and text analysis at three elderly care institutions,this study investigates the effects of institutionalized elderly care on intergenerational power relations in families of residents at three elderly care institutions.Results show that intergenerational power relations have been inverted in such a context,where parents become“children”and children become“parents”with power as“head of households.”In terms of care,children have transformed from care providers to“guardians”of their elderly parents-making decisions on care arrangements and supervising service quality.This“parental power”is being strengthened and institutionalized by the management of the institutions.While children act as“protectors”and“educators”by way of social support,they help their elderly parents manage social relationships and achieve re-socialization,penetrating their“parental power”into their elderly parents'daily lives through informal interactions.Institutionalized elderly care is by no means abandonment but a facilitator of bottom-up intergenerational support.