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

这个博士论文研究项目科学地探讨了如何在退休期间与住房和护理相关的行为和决策正在转变为老年人护理行业变得越来越市场化。随着老龄化人口规模的不断增加，基于市场的老年人护理已经扩大，对基于亲属的护理网络的依赖下降，以及消费者行为中不断扩大的中产阶级取向推动了对老年人护理服务选择的偏好。在关注第一代中产阶级退休人员的行为时，该项目旨在了解老年人的经历如何通过向基于市场的替代品的过渡以及远离亲属网络来改变老年人的住房和护理。除了培训研究生科学数据收集和分析方法外，它还将为退休规划和老年人护理管理领域的专业人员提供宝贵的材料。该项目还扩大了历史上在科学领域代表性不足的群体的参与。博士生调查在何种程度上中产阶级的身份塑造老年人在晚年生活的市场转型条件下的决定，通过检查个人谁选择进入私有化的老年人护理的经验。研究人员将观察养老院的行为，图尔斯，和照顾的做法，老年人谁住在一个高端养老院。能够负担得起高端养老院的老年人认为自己是中产阶级，并通过消费护理服务和商品（包括养老院）将自己与其他人区分开来。本研究透过参与观察、半结构式访谈与个案研究等民族志研究，探讨市场化照护产业、福利政策、照护选择与照护实践如何塑造中产阶级的老化经验。这项研究将进一步科学地理解社会阶层、商业化和老年人护理之间的关系。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.