The Social Construction of “Dirty Work” for Working in Residential Care Homes for the Elderly

The notion of “dirty work” as a socially constructed metaphor of caregiving work in “residential care homes for the elderly” (RCHE) has been one of the most consequential factors contributing to the acute labour shortage in RCHE. It operates within the context of rapid population ageing and increasing social demand for RCHE work. The term “dirty work” is widely used by a variety of stakeholders in social discourses to describe the job nature in RCHE or to explain RCHE staff shortages in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, RCHE workers’ insider experiences with the meaning of RCHE work are largely absent from the community and the literature, resulting in the hidden social processes that stigmatise and marginalise these workers. This chapter calls for the pressing needs of understanding how “dirty work” is being socially constructed and how it contributes to a critical factor of the RCHE workforce crisis in Hong Kong. It aims at generating new discussion on the development of public policy to cope with the workforce crisis from a socio-cultural perspective that is largely lacking in the process of making RCHE workforce policy and may facilitate the socio-cultural change in public views on RCHE work.