Unequal Transnational Caregiving: Class Differences in the Elderly Care Provision

• In Event: 134 - Section on the Sociology of the Family Paper Session. Globalization, Inequalities and Families

Abstract

Based on 117 in-depth interviews with Taiwanese immigrants in Southern California, this paper examines transnational caregiving practices of adult immigrants. This paper finds different patterns of caregiving provision across social class, including materialized caregiving, struggling caregiving, and retreated caregiving. Upper class immigrants make sure that their elderly parents are taken care of well in terms of care needs and materials either in Taiwan or in the United States, such as paid domestic helpers and senior homes with health care. Secondly, middle class immigrants are usually sandwiched by two generations and two worlds because they raise and educate their children in American way while taking care of their elderly parents in traditional Chinese way. The double needs of care work make middle class immigrants, mostly women, feel stressed. It is also possible that middle class Taiwanese immigrants need to negotiate with siblings in Taiwan for elderly care when elderly parents remain behind. In general, middle class immigrants struggle for caring for their elderly parents across boarders. Lastly, lower class Taiwanese immigrants’ limited budget and time force them to visit parents in Taiwan less frequently and also discourage their elderly parents to visit or immigrate to the United States. Some of them have no choice but to increasingly retreat from their natal family in Taiwan and filial obligations over years. This paper, in short, argues that immigrants’ caregiving practices for elderly parents are re-constructed and organized differently across social class.

Author

• Yu-Kang Fan, University of Southern California