‘You Don’t Need Santa Monica!’ The Objectification of Elderly Care Receivers in Russia

Abstract

The article presents the case of non-governmental elderly care provision in St Petersburg, Russia. In an attempt to fill the gap in existing care research, it discusses the objectification of care receivers and the inequalities between caregivers and care receivers in the case of caregiving under circumstances of non-governmental sector professionalisation. The empirical part of the article is based on fieldwork carried out in 2014–2015 in St Petersburg, consisting of 48 interviews, numerous observations and document analysis.

Notes

1 See Gilleard and Higgs (2010) for further discussion on the concepts of the ‘third age’ and ‘fourth age’.

2 The word ‘active’ refers to continuing participation in social, economic, cultural, spiritual and civic affairs, not just the ability to be physically active or to participate in the labour force, maintaining autonomy and independence (Rudawska 2010, p. 18).

3 In practice, active ageing ideology and participatory care practices may or may not correlate with one another. Equally, not all NGOs studied were supportive or even aware of the policy framework concept of the Madrid Plan.

4 Some milestone documents include Federal Law 442 ‘On Social Service Provision’ (‘Ob osnovakh sotsial’nogo obsluzhivaniya grazhdan v Rossiyskoi Federatsii’), State System of Legal Information 2015, adopted 25 December 2013, available at: http://pravo.gov.ru/proxy/ips/?docbody=&nd=102170561, accessed 15 January 2020; and ‘Strategy of Actions in Interests of Aging Citizens’ (‘Strategiya deystvii v interesakh grazhdan starshego pokoleniya v Rossiyskoi Federatsii do 2025 goda’), Ministry of Labour and Social Development 2016, adopted 5 February 2016, available at: https://rosmintrud.ru/ministry/programms/37/2, accessed 15 January 2020.

5 This simplistic approach was far from evident after conducting the fieldwork. There are plenty of examples of state institutions using participatory care in relation to the elderly and much paternalism in caregiving dyads in the third sector.

6 Federal Law 442 ‘On Social Service Provision’ (‘Ob osnovakh sotsial’nogo obsluzhivaniya grazhdan v Rossiyskoi Federatsii’), State System of Legal Information 2015, adopted 25 December 2013, came into effect 2015, available at: http://pravo.gov.ru/proxy/ips/?docbody=&nd=102170561, accessed 15 January 2020.

7 See Appendix 1 for a detailed list of organisations and interviews. Some of the organisations referred to in the main text of the article have been assigned pseudonyms.

8 See Table A2 in the Appendix for a detailed summary of the differences between the types of care.

9 Photos of ‘They’ aged care receivers and employees attending various pro-governmental meetings (making them effectively a so-called ‘transmission belt’ between Russian government and society (Gibson 2002)) and ‘calendar care’ (that is, special care provided on public holidays, such as the distribution of Victory Day gifts or a concert on Aged People’s Day) celebrations adorn the walls of the main corridor.

10 Interviews #35–37; see Appendix 1 for full details.

11 Interview #37, Mikhail Supov, in his twenties, project manager and lecturer, clientelist veteran organisation 3 (‘They’), St Petersburg, 30 November 2015.

12 Interview #51, Lida Lvovna, in her sixties, care receiver, clientelist veteran organisation 3 (‘They’), St Petersburg, 25 November 2015.

13 Interviews #35–37; see Appendix 1 for full details.

14 Interview #51, Lida Lvovna, in her sixties, care receiver, clientelist veteran organisation 3 (‘They’), St Petersburg, 25 November 2015.

15 Interview #17, Roza Josephovna, in her seventies, care receiver, care-providing charity foundation 4 (‘Beser’), St Petersburg, 15 October 2015.

16 Interview #15, Vera Sergeevna, in her sixties, care receiver, resource centre 1 (‘Snowflake’), St Petersburg, 14 October 2015.

17 Interview #4, ‘Polly’, in her thirties, vice-president, project manager and lecturer, resource centre 1 (‘Snowflake’), St Petersburg, 10 February 2015.

18 See Jalali (2013) and Krause (2014) for examples of such professionalisation.

19 Interview #42, Elena, in her thirties, office administrator and social worker, charity hospital, St Petersburg, 17 December 2015.

20 Interview #42, Elena, in her thirties, office administrator and social worker, charity hospital, St Petersburg, 17 December 2015.

21 Interviews #48–50; see Appendix 1 for full details.

22 Interview #8, Judith, in her thirties, case manager at care-providing charity foundation 4 (‘Beser’), St Petersburg, 27 September 2015; interview #28, Faina Martynovna, in her fifties, head of health visiting service, care-providing charity foundation 5 (‘Hoot’), St Petersburg, 11 November 2015.

23 Interview #48, Aglaya, in her sixties, nurse and health visitor, care-providing charity foundation 4 (‘Beser’), St Petersburg, 30 October 2016.

24 Interview #48, Aglaya, in her sixties, nurse and health visitor, care-providing charity foundation 4 (‘Beser’), St Petersburg, 27 October 2016; interview #50, female, in her fifties, nurse and health visitor, care-providing charity foundation 4 (‘Beser’), St Petersburg, 27 October 2016.

25 While admitting that some aged people would prefer drinking tea to complex social participation projects, the project manager of the charity foundation pointed out ‘Nevertheless, the person should have some training before coming [and] drinking tea’. (Interview #3, female, in her thirties, project management, grant-giving charity foundation 2, St Petersburg, 3 March 2015.)

26 Interview #27, Ivan Ivanovich, in his fifties, director, infrastructural resource centre 2 (‘Space Shuttle’), St Petersburg, 9 November 2015.

27 Interview #27, Ivan Ivanovich, in his fifties, director, infrastructural resource centre 2 (‘Space Shuttle’), St Petersburg, 9 November 2015.

28 See Krause (2014) for a similar story about humanitarian aid recipients in general.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Arturs Holavins

Arturs Holavins, University of Helsinki, Detlava Brantkalna iela 15-52, Riga, LV-1083, Latvia. Email: [email protected]