La Primacía de lo Económico en lo Ambiental

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Elder abuse in Hong Kong, as portrayed in the mass media, tends to adopt a sensationalist approach. Very often, mass media accounts use vivid photos (see exemplar in Figure 2.2) and dramatic story-lines to report elder abuse cases. Figure 2.2: A news clip photo from the mass media capturing a suspected case of elder

abuse in a local care-home in Hong Kong (Oriental Daily 20131126)

However reporting is limited and a consideration of articles in popular Hong Kong newspapers over the last 10 years led me to three general conclusions. Firstly, if one were to make judgements based on newspaper reports there appear to be few cases of elder abuse in Hong Kong. Secondly, those cases that are reported in the press are sensationalised, for example, a recent headline read ‘Elderly nursing home residents ‘stripped and exposed’ in the open before being bathed’ (Ming Pao 2015). Thirdly, if one relied on media accounts, it seems that nearly all cases of elder abuse happen in institutions. This seems to be most unlikely but as the majority of people gain their impressions of elder abuse from such sources, the potential to hold a misleading perception of both the extent and nature of abuse is considerable.

The second area that merits attention is the possible influence of cultural factors on perceptions of what constitutes abuse. As is highlighted below the limited

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research available on public perceptions of abuse suggests that these do not necessarily accord with the ‘official’ line, which some see as being overly influenced by Western definitions. For whilst Hong Kong is a modern society that has been subject to several Western influences for over a century, more than 90% of the Hong Kong population is Chinese (Census and Statistics Department 2010) and therefore traditional cultural values are likely to exert a significant influence on the way that phenomena such as elder abuse are perceived. This is considered below.

Cultural influences on Chinese people’s understanding of elder abuse Culture influences an individual’s perception of many things and the limited available work suggests that this is as true of elder abuse as it is of other issues. In one of the very few studies available on public perceptions of elder abuse in Hong Kong, Chan et al. (2008) conducted a telephone survey of 885 adults from the community and found that perceptions and reporting of abuse (of any form) varied by who the victim was and how the victim was abused. In particular, it seems that peoples’ perceptions of abuse do not reflect the official definitions used, with the latter being heavily influenced by Western concepts imported into Hong Kong, which do not necessarily reflect the perceptions of Chinese people. Traditional Chinese culture place a heavy emphasis on filial piety and mutual support among kinship groups and whilst it has been argued that recently the Western ideal of individualism has influenced many young people who prioritize self-development over family obligations and responsibilities (Chong and Kwan 2001), this will not generally be the case for older individuals. It is therefore very important to consider the potential role of cultural factors in the way that older people are perceived, which may in turn influence the way that

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abuse is construed. Such influences are considered further below.

Kinship relationships and intra-familial support networks in the Chinese context

Within Chinese culture relationships between and among family members are defined primarily by roles and functions within the family system (Yang 1992). In the Chinese context, relationship [guanxi 關 係 ] refers to social ties or connections among people. Chi et al. (2001) explain that kinship [Qīnshǔ guānxì] is the strongest kind of intra-familial relationship for Chinese individuals, followed by extended families and then extra-familial relations such as neighbours, friends, and co-workers. They further explain that guanxi regulates the behaviours expected of people belonging to a particular network. An individual’s social interaction, level of self-disclosure, and willingness to seek or provide help are some of the factors that contribute to the strength of guanxi. Additionally, Guanxi also provides individuals with a sense of

belonging and security and as such, it represents a framework by which an individual constructs their social identity through a process of social comparison and self-evaluation (Pang 2003). Clearly, its potential influence is considerable. Another concept more specifically related to older people is that of filial piety.

Filial piety – the root of Chinese family expectations

Over the centuries, Chinese culture has been heavily influenced by the Confucian tradition of filial piety and the five cardinal relationships or Wu Lun (Braun et al. 1998). These ethical and moral principles provide clear guidelines regarding the power, roles, obligations and responsibilities of each family member (Dong et al. 2011). The core of filial piety puts great emphasis on the relationships between parents and their children. Accordingly, parents are

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expected to take good care of their children when they are young, and adult offspring are expected to be responsible for their parents’ well-being as they grow old. In turn, older parents are supposed to ‘obey’ their adult offspring (Chao 1983). This system of interdependence among family members has been working in Chinese societies for thousands of years.

The concept of filial piety is taken from the Chinese expression – Xiao Tao [孝 道], which refers to a complex series of duties of children to their parents. It is commonly accepted that in Chinese societies, families play a major role in providing older people with informal care and support. The Confucian value system upholds the view that caring for older people is a family responsibility. It is well documented that Chinese people, under the great influence of their cultural values and tradition, have inherited certain personality characteristics and value orientations that are unique (Kwan et al. 2003, Phillips 2000). For instance, individualism is the prevailing ideology in Western societies, and a family is perceived as a collection of related individuals. Studies have found that there is a hierarchy of family caregiving in Western cultures based on a caregiver’s kinship relationship to an elderly relative (Nolan et al. 1996, Wright 1998). By contrast, Chinese culture traditionally assumes that the family is the basic unit of society. This influences how Chinese people think and feel about their families and the expectations they have of their lives as they grow older. However, despite existing for thousands of years such values are being increasingly threatened.

Recent threats to traditional values: challenges of an ageing population in Hong Kong

Filial piety stresses obedience to one’s parents. Sons and daughters are obliged to provide the best possible care to ageing parents in return for the care they received as dependent children. Theoretically, this traditional value should serve

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to protect older people from elder abuse. But recent decades have witnessed the decline of such traditional values among younger people in Hong Kong (Chow 2004). Changes brought about by industrialization, modernization, globalization and other social structural changes appear to be affecting the long-standing Chinese traditions of filial piety; and some time ago, Ting (2009) observed that the strength of this traditional Chinese value has been weakening in the face of demographic, economic and political transformations.

There is now growing evidence that filial piety is on the decline and that societal attitudes towards older people have also changed. A more recent study conducted in Hong Kong found that compared to older people, college students demonstrated a significantly lower level of filial piety (Yan and Tang 2002). Contradicting the old Chinese saying, ‘having an elderly person in the family is like having a treasure,’ the study also found that the younger generation tended

to view the past experiences of older people as boring and perceived older people as having nothing to do and always meddling in other peoples’ affairs. With the decline of filial piety and exposure to a diversity of Western values, such as individualism and personal freedom, the younger generation in contemporary Chinese society may prefer to pursue individual goals rather than fulfilling their traditional family obligations, as expected.

Population trends also appear to be changing family membership. According to census data, the proportion of nuclear families has been increasing (Tang et al. 2000) and more young Chinese couples in Hong Kong are choosing to cohabit or delay their marriage, remain childless and prefer not to live with their parents. Furthermore, daughters and daughters-in-law, who were customarily assigned

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the role of carers, are now more likely to be active in the workforce (Chen 2001). All in all, such developments mean that there are increasing numbers of older persons who either live alone or live with their adult children but with no one to care for them.

Recently, unprecedented changes in family structures are now becoming apparent, with children now being most likely to have four grandparents, two parents, and no siblings or offspring in their family in contrast to previous extended families. It is easier to be filial when families are large and life expectancy short. Such demographic changes, together with the new values being adopted by younger adults in Hong Kong, will undoubtedly pose significant challenges to the traditional Chinese value of filial piety.

2.5 Conclusion

The aim of this chapter has been to provide a more detailed context and rationale for the study described in this thesis. It has highlighted the population ageing of Hong Kong and the relative lack of attention so far given to the issue of elder abuse. It has been suggested that current approaches to elder abuse in Hong Kong have perhaps been subject to too much influence from Western definitions and concepts, whilst at the same time the subject is not one that is given much public consideration. The limited data available indicate that the prevalence of abuse in Hong Kong may be much higher than in Western countries but at the same time, the number of cases officially recorded are very low. Currently traditional Chinese cultural values are being challenged by attitudinal and demographic changes. All these factors highlight the need to explore the issue of elder abuse further, especially from a cultural perspective. As noted in the introduction, that is the main aim of my study. The next chapter considers the

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role that the literature played in both shaping the broad questions that the study sought to address and how it influenced the methodology chosen to answer them.

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CHAPTER 3

THE ROLE OF THE LITERATURE AND OTHER FORMS OF