RETHINKING POPULATIONAL AGING: THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE PROCESS OF AGINGIN BRAZILIAN SOCIABILITY

The purpose of this theoretical essay is to offer important information for thought and awareness about human aging within a historical process. The increase in the general population’s life expectancy, a result of advances in medicine and technology among other factors, is considered a victory for society. However, this presents challenges for the XXI century, since this increase in the elderly population brings about changes in demands for social policies, such as an increase in people depending on constant care, as well as the lack of priority for these policies in public agendas, for instance. Based on this, the purpose of this study is to analyze the heterogeneity in the aging process and in old age in Brazilian sociability in order to critique the homogenization of the elderly group in Brazil. The project was carried out using bibliographical and documental research. In this context, we see old age as the tragic result of terrible labor and living conditions, aggravated by the current political situation in Brazil where neoconservative attacks on social rights are obvious.