EXPERIENCES OF OLD AGE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF CLASS, RACE, GENDER AND SEXUALITY

Abstract

This is a research project to support a post-doctorate in Social Work, focused on a study of the aging process and old age with a thematic focus on experiences of social class, gender, race and sexuality. The main objective is to provoke reflections and deepen studies on the proposed theme, identifying the contradictions inherent to the dynamics of the capitalist mode of production and the social reproduction of the working class intertwined with the oppressions of race, gender and control of sexualities as structuring and structured in a specific mode of society. To this end, the research was carried out through the resource of Oral History using thematic testimonies, which allowed us to capture elements related to the social life of
elderly people, whose story told is also a story of the present time. Eight people aged 60 or over, of both sexes, white and black,
belonging to the working class, participated in the research. The analysis of the testimonies has been treated in light of the
theoretical-analytical tool of the Theory of Social Reproduction - TRS. The results obtained suggest that the aging process and old age, having its biological destiny as an indisputable reality, this reality transcends history, because in the social praxis of the gendered and racialized capitalist society and with control over women's bodies, reside important and distinct forms of aging. Therefore, the aging process and old age need to be understood in their entirety, taking into account the oppressions of class, race, gender and sexuality and it is not just a “biological fact” and, therefore, “Old Age”.