Beyond Filial Piety: Rethinking Aging and Caregiving in Contemporary East Asian Societies

Known for a tradition of Confucian filial piety, East Asian societies have some of the oldest and most rapidly aging populations on earth. Today these societies are experiencing unprecedented social challenges to the filial tradition of adult children caring for aging parents at home. Marshalling mixed methods data, this volume explores the complexities of aging and caregiving in contemporary East Asia. Questioning romantic visions of a senior’s paradise, chapters examine emerging cultural meanings of and social responses to population aging, including caregiving both for and by the elderly. Themes include traditional ideals versus contemporary realities, the role of the state, patterns of familial and non-familial care, social stratification, and intersections of caregiving and death. Drawing on ethnographic, demographic, policy, archival, and media data, the authors trace both common patterns and diverging trends across China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, and Korea.

Jeanne Shea is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Health and Society Program and the Global Health Concentration in Anthropology at the University of Vermont. Recipient of a Fulbright Senior Scholar Research Award, she has published her research in many scholarly journals and edited volumes.

Katrina Moore is Honorary Associate in Japanese Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the University of Sydney.

Hong Zhang is Associate Professor of East Asian Studies at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. She is the recipient of many research grants, including a Fulbright Senior Scholar Research Award and Freeman Foundation grants and has published in numerous edited volumes and journals.