餘命治理下的生死界閾照顧倫理－－以老年就養榮民為研究案例

Ethics of Caregiving on the Deathbed- A Case Study of Governing Elderly Veterans' Remaining Life

本文以老年就養榮民的臨終照護為民族誌研究案例，回顧既存勞動社會學文獻，以分析新自由主義以價維生之醫療市場邏輯運作過程，並闡釋此類照護的倫理實作內涵。本文認為，若忽視禮物和商品交換雙元性道德經濟互構的事實，將遮蔽了形塑底層看護勞動的多重階級、性別、地理政治與族群交織的結構性因素，並再次強化了結構性剝削的效應，甚且將受害者轉化為社會不義的代罪羔羊。本文也強調，底層照護之所以可以持續，並非盡然出自不得不然的經濟考量，而多出於另類照顧與被照顧的倫理實踐和體會，故而，照護勞作不應化約為貨幣對價關係。最後，基進照護必須奠基於可以跨越個人與集體性創傷的想像能力之上，而這個理解也可作為思考新自由主義體制下新興生命契機的起點。

Based on ethnographic research of elderly veterans' terminal-care practices, this paper examines the ways in which neoliberal medical institution transforms life value into commodity. Reflecting upon conventional works on sociology of labor, it aims also to demonstrate the ethical essence of this form of caring work. It maintains that, without paying close attention to the mutually constitutive relationship between gift and commodity exchanges, researchers may overlook how the interlinking connections between class, gender, ethnicity and race, as well as geopolitics marginalize caretakers and further penalize them as the scapegoat of structural injustice. It highlights the fact that, while economic concern may affect significantly caretakers' job decision, they choose to stay on, in spite of relatively meager income, mainly due to the ethical practice and empathetic emotion elicited by the process of caring and being cared for. In other words, the value of caregiving shall not be reduced into purely monetary terms. To rethink the possibility of creating emerging life potentialities under the shadow of neoliberal regime, the paper then argues for alternative forms of imagination that can bridge and also go beyond individual and social traumas. With such an imaginative blueprint in mind, radical modes of caring-and-being-cared-for may come into practice along with collective benefits.