"Choice" in filial care work: moving beyond a dichotomy.

In this paper, we discuss the concept of"choice" in filial care work. A dichotomy between choice and obligation is constructed in theoretical and empirical literature on filial care work. However, this dichotomy does not adequately reflect family caregiving experiences; for instance, choice and obligation are not mutually exclusive motivations. Rather, choice and obligation are "relational" and "contextual" and manifest in the interaction between macro- and micro-contexts. The choice-obligation dichotomy is also ideological. At the moral-political level, it promotes the downloading of responsibility by governments to family, obscures the complexity of filial relationships, and may even promote psychological ambivalence.