Der konflikt zwischen familiärer pflege und beruf als handlungstheoretisches problem

Abstract

The problem of what adult children consider and how they decide in a situation in which their own employment and the need for care of an elderly parent come into conflict is used in this contribution as an empirical "whetstone" for the explanation of social action. For this purpose the author refers to approaches drawn of from family sociology and as well to rational-choice models. Assumptions made by both as well as their explanatory content in regard to social action are discussed critically. In order to overcome the dichotomy between the oversocialized participant in the approach of normative guided action and the homo oeconomicus of the rational-choice approach the author proposes models of action by Alfred Schütz and Pierre Bourdieu. Empirical patterns of knowledge and action show their greater adequacy for the topic studied here. To analyze patterns of social action categories are needed which are able to take into consideration the social embeddedness of aims, purposes, and preferences, and, at the same time, strategic behavior in regard to social evaluation. This conceptual claim is underlined by empirical strategies of adults caring for a parent. Schütz's conceptions of a stock of social knowledge and Bourdieu's economy of practice comprise both.