Social Construction of Individual Aging

Abstract

According to WHO (2002), societies are aging, and it is possible to observe an unprecedented demographic transformation in the history of humanity. The success of social transformations in welcoming healthy aging is proportional to the precariousness of the mechanisms we have to deal with fragile and dependent old age. It is a fact that we added years of life to the general population, however, the inexorability of old age can only be avoided if there is a premature death. For many the last years of life are devastated by chronic illness, disability or dementia, and increased dependence. From the historical point of view of humanity, we are a succession of generations, increasingly old, supported by the illusion of renewal. The past was younger than the present and the future will be even older. This article intends to present a reflection about the social construction of individual aging, carried out during the research on the Promotion and Preservation of Dignity in the context of care in nursing homes, in the context of the PhD in Nursing of the University of Lisbon, Portugal.