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Managers and Eldercare: Three Critical, Language-Based Approaches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Rosemary A. McGowan ,
Kim Morouney  and
Patricia Bradshaw
Rosemary A. McGowan
Affiliation:
Wilfrid Laurier University
Kim Morouney
Affiliation:
Wilfrid Laurier University
Patricia Bradshaw
Affiliation:
York University
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Abstract

Critical, language-based analytic approaches offer tools to explore how we use language to construct identities, roles and relationships, to represent realities, and to challenge or support existing social orders. In this paper we use language-based analyses to explore the issue of work and eldercare. We identify the epistemologies, mechanics and insights of three language-based approaches: functional grammar, discourse analysis, and deconstruction. The texts analysed are drawn from depth interviews with male and female managerial level employees in Southern Ontario who provide care for aging relatives. Analyses target (1) managers' reactions to the “eldercare” label and (2) how managers balance work commitments and caregiving commitments. We focus on managers because their role in eldercare has received little attention in either the organizational or the gerontological literature; and yet they may be in a position to effect institutional change.

Résumé

Une approche analytique et critique fondée sur le langage constitue un outil d'exploration de l'utilisation du langage dans la construction d'identités, de rôles et de relations servant à représenter la réalité et à défier ou appuyer l'ordre social en place. Dans ce document, nous utilisons ce type d'analyse pour examiner la question du travail et du soin des aîné(e)s. Nous relevons l'épistémologie, les mécanismes et la lucidité de trois approches fondées sur le langage: la grammaire fonctionnelle, l'analyse du discours et la déconstruction. Les textes analysés sont extraits d'interviews en profondeur d'hommes et de femmes cadres qui habitent le Sud de l'Ontario et qui fournissent des soins à des parents âgés. Les analyses ciblent la réaction des gestionnaires au terme «soins des aîné(e)s» en plus d'examiner de quelle façon les gestionnaires créent l'équilibre entre leurs engagements professionnels et leurs responsabilités de soignants. Nous nous sommes penchés sur les gestionnaires parce que leur rôle sur le plan des soins aux aîné(e)s n'a reçu que peu d'attention dans la documentation de l'organisation ou de la gérontologie. On croit pourtant qu'ils pourraient être en position d'influencer le changement institutionnel.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , Été/Summer 2000 , pp. 237 - 259
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2000

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