Longevity is a characteristic of the present world. The aging of the population, which had happened during many decades in the developed countries, became quickly a reality in the less developed countries, marking a demographic transition in an unexampled level. The foreseen impact on the economic, social and health sectors transformed old age into a social problem. In such case, gerontology, with reference to citizenship, has been investing in the building of a new social place and a new mentality of care for the elder, through a discourse based on education, work and family. In this article, under the light of psychoanalysis, we introduce a brief historical development of the social construction of old age in the western world, considering its inspiration in biological aging. We also put in doubt its influence in the present speeches, in the family relationship and identify its resonances in the mosaic of manners by which old age itself will be well or badly perceived by the subject.
Old age; Family; Psychoanalysis; Culture