Social Services for the Elderly: Formal and Informal Rules and Practices

Abstract

Oksana Parfenova – associate researcher, Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology
of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation. Email: oksana.parfenova@gmail.com

DOI: 10.17323/727-0634-2017-15-4-573-588

The article analyses one of the key directions of current domestic social policy: social service for senior citizens. The largest state social service agent is the Complex Centre of Social Services (KTSSON). The empirical object of the case study is the KTSSON of one of the St. Petersburg districts. We analysed how this service functions, considering it as a set of formal and informal rules and practices. Caring for an elderly person by the KTSSON is framed as a very specific set of services that are provided for a fee. This set of services is largely approved by the customers themselves. From the side of social workers there is clear view of what is their duty and what is not. At the same time, their ideas do not coincide with the official job description, which, in turn, is based on an earlier version of the law on social service. Thus, in the course of the study, a discrepancy emerges between official instructions, current law and real practices. Furthermore, there is no qualitative change in the social status of an elderly person as a result of the service. KTSSON partially takes on the functions that other elderly people or family members carried out. This 'delegation' of care to social work professionals partly compensates for losing the ability to work and conduct physical activity. Thus, in some cases, home-based social services may well fit into the model of 'warm modern care,' where the functions of caring for the elderly are divided between an institution (KTSSON) and the family.