从被照料对象到家庭关键主体：农村“留守老人”的角色再认识

From Care Recipients to Key Household Actors: Re-Examining the Role of Rural “Left-Behind Elderly”

摘要: 在持续人口流动的背景下，“留守老人”逐渐成为农村社会中备受关注的群体。现有研究与政策多将其界定为弱势群体，强调其在经济、照护与情感等方面都高度依赖年轻群体，忽视了其在家庭与地方社会中的实际功能与结构性位置。从家庭代际关系与日常实践出发，重新审视“留守老人”在农村家庭中的角色定位。留守老人并非单纯的被照料对象，而是在家庭再生产过程中承担着多重关键功能：其一，通过照护孙辈、承担家务与农业劳动，为中青年劳动力外出务工提供条件；其二，作为土地、房屋与社会关系网络的守护者，维系家庭在村庄中的物质与社会存在；其三，在代际互动中发挥情感纽带与道德约束作用，维持家庭责任秩序。留守老人构成了农村家庭运转中的“关键主体”。因此，将留守老人仅视为弱势群体，难以全面理解其社会角色，也可能遮蔽其承担的隐性照护与劳动负担。

Abstract: Against the backdrop of sustained population mobility, the left-behind elderly have increasingly become a prominent group in rural China. Existing research and policy discussions largely portray them as a vulnerable population, emphasising their dependence on younger generations for economic, caregiving, and emotional support, while overlooking their actual roles and structural position within rural families and communities. Drawing on an analysis of intergenerational relations and everyday family practices, this study re-examines the role of the left-behind elderly within rural households. Rather than merely being recipients of care, they play multiple critical roles in sustaining the functioning of rural families. First, by caring for grandchildren and undertaking domestic and agricultural labour, they enable younger working-age members to migrate for employment. Second, as custodians of land, houses, and local social networks, they maintain the family’s material and social presence in the village. Third, through everyday intergenerational interactions, they serve as emotional anchors and moral regulators, helping to sustain the family’s moral order and sense of responsibility. The left-behind elderly thus constitute key actors in the operation of rural households. Viewing them solely as a vulnerable group therefore fails to fully capture their social role and may obscure the hidden burdens of care and labour they undertake.