Ethnomorality of Care: Migrants and their Aging Parents(Routledge Research in Transnationalism)

What happens when the parents of migrants age and need care in mobile and aging societies? Ethnomorality of Care acts as a window in sharing how physical distance challenges family-centered elderly care by juxtaposing transnational families with non-migrant families. A novel approach that explores intentions and moral beliefs concerning elderly care alongside practical care arrangements, Ethnomorality of Care presents a concept of care which recognizes how various factors shape the experience of care, including: national, regional, and local contexts, economic inequalities, gender, care and migration regimes. Based on the findings of a multi-sited research carried out between 2014 and 2017 in Poland and the UK, this perceptive volume also seeks to demonstrate how researchers and practitioners can use ethnomorality of care approach to examine non-migrant families and other types of care. Helping readers to better understand the lived experience of care receivers and givers beyond kinship care, Ethnomorality of Care will appeal to graduate students, researchers, policy makers and care practitioners interested in fields such as migration studies, transnational studies and social and cultural gerontology.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures Acknowledgements List of abbreviations Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Ethnomorality of care: theoretical framework What is care? From the existing approaches to ethnomorality of care Inner diversity of care Care in relationships Process and agency in care Local contexts and cultures of care Care as a morally-informed concept Care - migration nexus Long distance care provision and emotional care Delegation of care tasks and coordination of care activities Cultural differences between the place of origin and the migration destination Ethnomorality of care Towards an emic definition of care Conclusions – care-contact continuum Chapter 3: How to study ethnomorality of care? Research methodology Multi-sited transnational research Mixed-method research Monographic study of Kluczbork and Końskie Quantitative components of the research Ethnographies of local care regimes Researching care through in-depth interviews Recruiting interviewees from Kluczbork and Końskie in the UK Benefits and challenges of matched sample in research on transnational families Data analysis Ethical issues in researching elderly care Chapter 4: Main actors of care and local care regimes in two studied locations Care actors Polish care regime Local care regimes Family Public institutions Market Third sector Informal non-familial individuals Transnationalization of local care regimes Conclusions Chapter 5: Care as a part of moral beliefs on old age Norms as a part of the Polish care culture Normative beliefs on care for the elderly people in the two towns Normative discourse on care in the old age Values as a basis of beliefs on family care provision… …and its morally justified limitations Beliefs on the quality of institutional care provision Moral dilemmas regarding the financing and organization of institutional care Migration-driven changes in beliefs on care The place of caregiving in the normative beliefs on the old age Conclusions Chapter 6: Care intentions – envisaging elderly care Declarations of care commitment Excuses and justifications Local siblings as default caregivers The moral equation of care Resentment Appeals to migrants’ well-being Appeals to parents’ well-being Appeal to the good quality of institutional care "Whatever will be, will be" and wishful thinking (performatives) Conclusions Chapter 7: Typology of care arrangements Limited care Emotional support Material support: emotional gifts Material support: instrumental gifts Financial support Personal assistance Loose network of care Sociability in later life Networks of "latent" actors Collaboration, division of tasks and coordination within networks Dense network of care Health condition, intermediary types and type-switching Diversity of dense networks of care Role of public in-home care services in the networks of care Principal care provider Familial principal care provider Every day of frailty Health condition – diseases, frailty and suffering Daily care tasks The experience of hands-on daily care Engagement of other social actors Migrants in families of frail and dying parents Institutional principal care provider Nursing home as a shelter Nursing home as a social milieu Coordination within the institution The role of family and close non-familial individuals Conclusions Chapter 8: Adding a temporal dimension: Care sequences and flows Care sequences Intensification of care arrangement The same care arrangement in spite of higher levels of dependency Reduced or less complex care Occasional intensification of care arrangement Seasonal sequence of care arrangements Care flows Personal care provided by the elder adults Personal care provided for the grandchildren abroad Personal care for an adult child Material care provided by the elder adults Financial care provided by the elder adults Emotional care provided by the elder adults Conclusions Chapter 9: Ethnomoralities of care – Conclusions From ethnomorality to ethnomoralities Regional differences in the ethnomoralities of care Socio-economic differences in the ethnomoralities of care Gender differences in the ethnomoralities of care Ethnomoralities of care and intergenerational solidarity in the families Application of ethnomorality of care perspective in future research Future: Brexit and the elderly care in transnational Polish families References:

About the Author :
Agnieszka Radziwinowiczówna is Assistant Professor and Project Manager at the Centre of Migration Research at the University of Warsaw, Poland Anna Rosińska-Kordasiewicz is a Research Fellow at the Centre of Migration Research at the University of Warsaw, Poland Weronika Kloc-Nowak is a Researcher at the Centre of Migration Research at the University of Warsaw, Poland

Review :
"This book is a highly original exploration of the complex negotiations of moral and practical issues faced by transnational families with ageing relatives. Through the skillful analysis of the multifaceted interrelations of beliefs, intended actions and actual practices of care we get a better understanding of the moral, relational and political challenges to local, national and transnational care arrangements. Ethnomorality of Care provides a much needed cohesive perspective in times of ageing migrating societies." Bernhard Weicht is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Innsbruck and the author of The Meaning of Care. "This excellent and fascinating book breaks new intellectual ground developing the concept of the ethnomorality of care to extend understanding of what Polish families think about, intend to do about and actually do about the care of ageing family members in the context of high rates of outward migration and low levels of state provision for elder care. Based on an ambitious research design composed of surveys, indepth interviews and ethnogaphic observations spanning Poland and the UK, Radziwinowiczówna, Rosińska-Kordasiewicz and Kloc-Nowak offer the reader a rich body of data, which is presented in an eminently readable manner. Their insightful analysis will have resonance beyond Poland, particularly in other Central and Eastern European countries experiencing similar challenges related to rapid population ageing, high rates of emigration and social and economic transition." Majella Kilkey is Reader in Social Policy at the University of Sheffield and editor of Family Life in An Age of Migration and Mobility. Global Perspectives through the Life Course. "The authors of this study are after a[n] all-encompassing analytical concept, one that captures ‘care as outstretched between lived social norms defined in moral terms (moral beliefs), care intentions and actions (care arrangements)’. For this purpose, they have devised a new term, the ‘ethnomorality of care’ … By exploring the ethnomorality of care in two communities □– the provincial Polish towns of Końskie and Kluczbork –□the authors sought to assess how well their members were able to put into practice the types and level of care presented as ideal. The inhabitants of these communities overwhelmingly declared their support for care by – and within – families. However as the authors discovered, changing economic and social conditions, such as deindustrialisation, increased female labour force participation and migration, challenged families’ ability to adhere to this norm, despite paying lip service to it." Sonya Michel is Professor Emerita at the University of Maryland and editor of Women, Migration, and the Work of Care: The United States in Comparative Perspective and Race, Ethnicity and Welfare States: An American Dilemma? Book review appeared in the International Journal of Care and Caring. "The book investigates the “lived experience of aging” in two Polish towns, comparing the experiences (over time) of parents with adult children abroad; parents whose children live elsewhere in Poland or locally; and childless older people. It also explores the “care intentions” of migrants: how they envisage what will happen if their parents in Poland need more intensive support. Poland is interesting as a case study of a society with, on the one hand, an ageing population and mass out-migration, which creates a need for care, and, on the other, a self-image as a place where family is of the highest value." Anne White, UCL, School of Slavonic and East European Studies. Book review appeared in Migration and Society.