The interpretive dynamics of filial and collective responsibility for elderly people.
Drawing on accounts from 28 adult children, I explore the interpretive dynamics of filial and social responsibility for elderly people. Participants tended to characterize individualistic, voluntary motivations positively in talk about personal filial responsibility, yet when speaking about other Canadians, criticized individualistic values as promoting irresponsibility. Others were assessed negatively in contrast to an idealized past and non-Western cultures; "Canadian society" was used as a contrast against which to define self as filially responsible. In this process, participants also reproduced conceptual opposition between filial and societal responsibility; rarer was an alternative, "solidarity" paradigm utilized.
Funk
Laura
L
Centre on Aging, University of Victoria, Sedgewick Bldg A123, P.O. Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, BC, Canada V8W 2Y2. lmfunk@uvic.ca
D000328:Adult; D032721:Adult Children; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002170:Canada; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012649:Self Concept; D012941:Social Responsibility; D012944:Social Support; D012945:Social Values