Doctoral Dissertation Research: Middle Class Participation in the Marketized Eldercare Industry

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

This doctoral dissertation research project scientifically explores how behaviors and decisions related to housing and care during retirement are transforming as the eldercare industry becomes increasingly marketized. Market-based eldercare has expanded as the size of the aging population continues to increase, reliance on kin-based networks of care declines, and an expanding middle class orientation in consumer behavior has driven a preference for options in eldercare services. In focusing on the behaviors of a cohort first-generation middle-class retirees, the project aims to understand how older age experiences have been transformed by a transition to market-based alternatives and away from kin networks for older age housing and care. In addition to training a graduate student in methods of scientific data collection and analysis, it will also provide valuable material for professionals working in the fields of retirement planning and eldercare management. The project also broadens the participation of groups historically underrepresented in science. The doctoral student investigates the extent to which middle-class identity shapes decisions about eldercare in later life under conditions of market transformation, through an examination of the experiences of individuals who opt into privatized eldercare. The researcher will observe nursing home behaviors, tours, and care practices for older adults who live in a high-end nursing home. Older adults who can afford high-end nursing homes identify themselves as middle-class and distinguish themselves from others by consuming care services and goods including nursing homes. By conducting ethnographic research including participant observation, semi-structured interviews and case studies, this research asks how the marketized care industry, welfare policies, and all the choices and care practices shape the aging experience of the middle class. This research will further scientific understanding of the relationship between social class, commercialization, and eldercare. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.