Issues of Elder Care among Migrant Workers in Contemporary Rural China: Filial Piety Redefined from a Foucauldian Perspective

Authors

• Longtao He, Southwestern Uuniversity of Finance and Economics
• Kate van Heugten, university of canterbury
• Maria Perez-Y-Perez, university of canterbury
• Yongqiang Zheng, George Fox UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2021

Abstract

This article reports on research that explored rural migrant workers’ experiences of returning to their hometown to provide care for elderly parents diagnosed with cancer. The authors used a culturally integrated approach to Foucauldian discourse analysis to consider how 24 participants narrated their experiences of care in China. The discourse of care demonstrated a strong commitment to filial piety despite their unique care challenges, and this commitment was bolstered by discourses that emphasized how much parents had sacrificed, as well as by a persistent forgetting of experiences or background details that suggested any lack of parental sacrifice in recent Chinese history. Policy implications related to enhancing filial care are discussed.

Comments

Originally published in He, L., van Heugten, K., Perez-Y-Perez, M., & Zheng, Y. (2023). Issues of Elder Care among Migrant Workers in Contemporary Rural China: Filial Piety Redefined from a Foucauldian Perspective. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 35(5), 554–574. https://doi.org/10.1080/08959420.2021.1926203

Recommended Citation

He, Longtao; van Heugten, Kate; Perez-Y-Perez, Maria; and Zheng, Yongqiang, "Issues of Elder Care among Migrant Workers in Contemporary Rural China: Filial Piety Redefined from a Foucauldian Perspective" (2021). Faculty Publications - College of Social Work. 33.
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/sw_fac/33