The Home-based Elderly Care Services Under The Background Of The Disintegration Of The Back-feeding Family Structure

In China’s traditional society,influenced by the culture of filial piety and other factors,the elderly mainly rely on their children to have family support,who provide them with means of living,daily care and emotional comfort.Under the background of the industrialization and modernization,many factors,such as the refinement of social division,the transition in family structure,the declining influence of the traditional filial piety,the change of values,lead to the gradual disintegration of the back-feeding family structure.Facing the rapid increase of the aging population,it is difficult for families to become the main contributor of the pension.However,most of the elderly still have a strong desire for home-based care.According to the fourth survey on the living conditions of the elderly in urban and rural China,76.2%of the elderly in urban areas are willing to receive care at home.In this context,the live-in caregivers gradually become an important supplement for some urban families to provide care services for the aged.This paper mainly uses the theories of labor process and emotional labor to analyze the relationship between the live-in caregiver and the elderly in the family.The qualitative data in the research were mainly obtained through in-depth interviews(including face-to-face interviews,telephone interviews,and WeChat interviews),specifically,through semi-structured interviews with a boss of domestic-work agency,six live-in caregivers and six elderly people and the analysis of typical cases.The study finds that the majority of the elderly are reluctant to hire a live-in caregiver,but when the elderly are in a disabled or semi-disabled situation and have no choice but to hire a live-in caregiver to take care of them,the two will go through a shorter negotiation period and a longer inspection period.In the family scenario,live-in caregivers need to take care of the elderly not only concerning their physical life,and also the emotional management.The live-in caregiver and the host not only establish an employment relationship,but also form an emotional connection in the daily life.The employment relationship and emotional connection between the elderly and the live-in caregiver form a special relationship in the interaction among family members.The intimacy between the live-in caregiver and the elderly makes the employment relationship look like a "family-like relationship".The relationship between the live-in caregiver and the elderly and the "family-like relationship" are worth studying.The establishment of such a relationship is actually the transformation of the simple labor-employment relationship into an emotional labor relationship by both parties,which adds a "family" element to the employment relationship.The fictitious kinship relationship between the two parties helps live-in caregivers to obtain dignity in the workplace and gain positive emotional experience.Therefore,they are willing to work harder,which in turn improves the happiness and satisfaction of the elderly,forming a virtuous circle and achieving a "win-win" situation for both sides.The government should introduce relevant policies to guide live-in caregivers to establish the emotional connection with the elderly,pay attention to the emotional needs of both sides,maintain and improve the relationship between caregivers and the elderly,reduce the sadness and helplessness of the workers with so-called "low-end" wage,give them due respect,attract more young people to participate in the domestic industry,improve the situation of "labor shortage" in China.At the same time,to improve the elderly’s sense of happiness and satisfaction,and at the same time,improve the happiness and satisfaction of the elderly.