ABSTRACT
Although the number of elders grows rapidly in Brazil, little is known about this group, and up to now other agents have spoken for them, focusing on aging and old age as a negative and uniform process. Aware of the need to denaturalize the phenomenon of old age and to consider it a social category, culturally built, this study sought to know the way elders represent old age, through their perception of the aging process. It employed a qualitative methodological approach, evincing images and representations of elders about aging. Data were collected through interviews with ten elders, aged from 60 to 85 years old (5 women and 5 men). The interview was guided by the question: “How can you see yourself in the aging process?”. The information indicated that despite the negative and uniform vision of others about old age, these elders lived the aging process in different forms and considered old age a time of pleasure. No sentiments of rejection or inferiority were identified in relation to changes and losses.
demographic aging; old age; elderly