Ageing and Care
Who really holds care together? From grandparents to children, caring roles shape work and society. Discover how everyday choices affect the global economy.
Supporting the most vulnerable, including children and the elderly, is one of the main forms of caring labour for social reproduction. The moral and economic choices individuals and families make every day when dealing with children, as well as old age, have broad implications for the global political economy of care.
These decisions unfold within a context where populations in wealthy economies are ageing, while birth rates are rising in many postcolonial societies. This demographic divergence contributes to the (re)production and entrenchment of gendered and racialised hierarchies.
Yet, children and the elderly are not only passive subjects or caring. They often become active carers and central agents of social reproduction labour. Today’s episode will centre on this more agential role of vulnerable populations by exploring the contribution of grandparents’ caring role to the formal labour economy.
Concepts discussed: social reproduction, care labour, urban/rural divide.
Recommended Reading:
- Chan, K. W., Cai, F., Wan, G., & Wang, M. (2019) Urbanization with Chinese characteristics: the Hukou system and migration. London: Routledge
- Liang, J., Huang, W., & He, Y. (2024) Report on the cost of shengyu in China 2024. Yuwa Population Research
- Lin, Q. and Mao, J. (2022) ‘“A new job after retirement”: Negotiating grandparenting and intergenerational relationships in urban China’, China perspectives, (1), pp. 47–56. doi: 10.4000/chinaperspectives.13520
- Liu, J. (2023) ‘Filial piety, love or money? Foundation of old-age support in urban China’, Journal of Ageing Studies, 64
- Liu, J. Y. (2017) ‘Intimacy and Intergenerational Relations in Rural China’, Sociology (Oxford), 51(5), pp. 1034–1049
- National Health and Family Planning Commission. (2018) Report on the development of China’s migration population 2018. Beijing: China Population Publishing House.
- Shen, Y. (2025) Caring through intergenerational support: Childcare practices in rural-to-urban migrant families in China. PhD thesis, University of Sheffield.
- Tronto, J. C. (1993) Moral Boundaries: A Political Argument for An Ethic of Care. Georgetown: Taylor & Francis Group
- Tronto, J. C. (2013) Caring Democracy: Markets, Equality, and Justice. New York, NY: New York University Press
- World Health Organisation. ‘Ageing and health in China’
Credits
- Host and Editing: Frank Maracchione (ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow at SOAS University of London and part of the SPERI Presents... Working Group)
- Guest: Dr Yingzi Shen (PhD student at the University of Sheffield)
- Editing: Dillon Wamsley (Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Sheffield)
- Podcast Produced By: SPERI Presents… Committee
- Music By: Andy_Gambino