The Intergenerational Contract in the Changing Asian Family

Abstract

A contemporary Asia-wide concern is the common fear that modernization or urbanization, migration, the demographic transition, new lifestyle aspirations and the spread of Western values have emphasized individual rather than collective familial interests and thus eroded filial obligations. This paper, based on ethnographic studies across East, South-East and South Asia, suggests that far from being eroded, the generations have taken new steps to invest in the intergenerational contract, which has been renegotiated and reinterpreted by both generations in support of a robust and reciprocated cycle of care. The paper concludes that this is a pragmatic, necessary and far-sighted response to the development strategies and social policies supported by Asian states. It can be argued that, in Asian societies, it is the familial contract and familial exclusion rather than a social contract and social exclusion that are more pertinent to individual well-being, and that intergenerational resource flows significantly subsidize contemporary Asian development strategies.

One-person households in India

“…Though the exact figures of elderly people living in institutional settings or old age homes are not available, it is unlikely to be large, as such facilities are not widely available (Kalavar and Jamuna 2011). With declining fertility, changing norms and expectations, economic and social transformations, however, might lead to reassessment of living arrangements for the elderly (Croll 2006). Currently, the family system with its emphasis on filial piety means that the elderly are unlikely to live alone to the same extent as they do in developed countries.…”

“…In much of Asia, intergenerational co-residence was traditionally valued, and children provided security in old age (Chui 2007). But the living arrangements of older persons in Asia are changing, with signs of decrease in intergenerational co-residence (Croll 2006). India has also not been immune to changes in the living arrangements of the elderly.…”

Chinese one-child families in the age of migration: middle-class transnational mobility, ageing parents, and the changing role of filial piety

“…However, how parents and children perceive and discharge "unlimited responsibility" is clearly changing in the twenty-first century. An increase in investing in the younger generation and a decrease in the taken-for-grantedness of care-inreturn of the older generation has been consistent across Asian societies (Lee 2010;Göransson 2009;Croll 2006;Park et al 2005). In the context of the middle-class one-child transnational family, children had very limited material responsibilities towards parents, and future care expectations were unclear.…”

“…It is arguably one of the oldest forms of family contract. The definition of filial piety in the twenty-first century varies slightly according to different scholars in different contexts (Schans and de Valk 2011;Chow and Chu 2007;Croll 2006;Ikels 2004). In general, filial piety requires children to fulfil parent's practical and financial/material needs and look after a parent's emotional well-being; it also traditionally prescribes obedience and respect from the younger to the older generation regardless of an individual's age (Keller et al 2005).…”

“…However, findings in Asia from the late 1990s indicated a declining emphasis on reverence and obedience but a trend towards renegotiating intergenerational filial expectations based on more egalitarian intra-familial exchanges (Croll 2006). The more recent evidence suggests a gradual shift in filial practices from gender specific to relatively gender flexible (Shi 2009;Xie and Zhu 2009;Wang 2004).…”