Exploring Ageing and Changing Kinship Relationships

Abstract

The socio-economic transformations have drastically changed the dynamics of kinship and aging in contemporary society thus resulting in the waning of conventional familial support structures favoring elders. The idea of filial piety is undergoing a steady decline because of various reasons like increasing individualism, urban migration and changing gender roles. This paper tends to explore the delicate relationship between kinship and aging through personal experience and academic insights. It brings forward the dynamic nature of elder care. Drawing from the anthropological works of scholars like Yun Xiang Yan and Sarah Lamb, the work tries to examine the changing nature of caregiving.

This article further goes on to challenge the notion of perceiving aging as an undesirable process formed by the utilitarian motive of contemporary society. Finally, it suggests alternative frameworks of support for the elderly by reiterating the importance of their agency and a call for wider social networks transcending families. Besides confining to normative conclusions, this article posits a more nuanced comprehension of kinship, aging and its care in the contemporary world.