ARI Working Paper Series

This paper seeks to understand how the socioeconomic status of the elderly changes as a society develops economically, by reviewing of the place of informal eldercare in development theory and practice. Drawing upon the discourses of modernisation theory and dependency theory as applied to the study of the elderly, and policies of Confucian-influenced states of Southeast and East Asia – in particular the case of Singapore – this paper reveals that the pursuit of economic growth is central both to development theory and practice.

At the state-level, policies in Singapore promote familial eldercare as a cheaper alternative to state-funded welfare. Within the family, state policies encourage the outsourcing care to foreign domestic workers as a means of enabling those who can afford to employ them, to enter the labour force and contribute to economic growth. The chain along which the responsibility for eldercare is passed from the state to the family, then to the foreign domestic worker, suggests that as far as the elderly and their demand for care are concerned, economic growth matters more. The elderly are thus marginalised to the extent that informal eldercare is subordinated to the relentless pursuit of economic growth.

Finally, this paper submits that scholarship on socioeconomic status of the elderly in development could benefit from incorporating the voices of the elderly and a greater understanding of their values and attitudes.