Changing Intergenerational Solidarities within Families in a Mediterranean Welfare State

Abstract

Intergenerational solidarity within families is the traditional source of support for dependent elderly people in southern European countries, where care needs have been mainly fulfilled by the unpaid work of women. Recently, the decline of informal care and the persistent lack of supply of formal services have been accompanied by the growth of commercial services mostly provided by migrant women hired by families in the grey market. The article is based on a qualitative study and explores the social processes underlying these changes. It suggests that although intergenerational solidarity is still crucial, it is expressed less through the direct provision of care and more through the supervision of paid services. This shift, which results mainly from a strategy adopted by middle-class women, challenges traditional gender relations and divisions of work. Moreover, it produces employment relations characterized by low pay and underprotection and reflecting conflicts over time and space typically present in informal care relations.keywords: commodification of care ✦ dependent elderly ✦ informal care ✦ intergenerational solidarity ✦ Mediterranean welfare state ✦ paid care

Intergenerational Solidarity and Satisfaction With Life: Mediation Effects With Emerging Adults

“…In more developed countries, then, the continuation of the fl ow from parents to children until a later phase is frequent, because the elderly parents tend to "compensate" their adult children for the help they provide, and also because the younger generation does have less resources than the older one (Chauvel, 2006;Lennartsson et al, 2010). Intergenerational solidarity patterns depend on other, often associated factors, like on the availability of public social support structures and prevailing values related to public welfare states and family welfare states (Da Roit, 2007;Haberkern & Szydlik, 2010).…”

“…In those countries, including Portugal, the transition to adult life is seen as a "joint developmental enterprise" (Scabini, Marta, & Lanz, 2006), as both generations are actively involved in this process. Some reasons can be indicated, including economic conditions (diffi cult job market and greater gap between socioeconomic groups), structural characteristics (lack of social security policies/public welfare policies, replaced by the so-called "family welfare state") and cultural values (higher rates of familism) (Da Roit, 2007;Fontaine, Andrade, Matias, Gato, & Mendonça, 2006;Guerreiro & Abrantes, 2004;Haberkern & Szydlik, 2010).…”

Los modelos territoriales de organización social del cuidado a personas mayores en los hogares

“…Las cifras siguen indicando altos niveles de implicación de los parientes en los cuidados, pero el familismo parece encontrar nuevas formas de expresión a través de la mencionada mercantilización y del desarrollo de nuevos recursos pú-blicos. De esta manera, tal y como indican algunas investigaciones (Marbán, 2009;Da Roit, 2007;Ungerson, 2003), aunque la privatización ha contribuido a mitigar la carga de las tareas de cuidados en los hogares, la gestión sigue recayendo habitualmente a los descendientes. Además, la naturaleza de los programas públicos de atención a personas mayores implantados en los últimos años también ha alterado los cánones sobre los que clásicamente se manifestaba el familismo.…”

Cuidados mixtos y cuidados informales a los mayores dependientes, ¿son complementarios o sustitutivos?: una visión comparada entre los países del sur de Europa

“…En los países del sur Europa analizados, a pesar de contar con prestaciones económicas públicas relacionadas con la prestación de cuidado hacia personas dependientes (Da Roit, 2007), en nuestro análisis no se ha presentado como un factor significativo. Por el contrario, es el poder adquisitivo el que determina que el mayor dependiente reciba cuidados mixtos.…”