A construção do campo da gerontologia em Santa Maria: dimensão política

Abstract

The population aging is one of the greatest achievements of mankind. Thanks to high fertility in the past and the reduction of mortality in the elderly, the age distribution of the population has a significant number of elderly, thus bringing great challenges and new insights, especially in the execution of public policies that address the needs of that percentage of the population. To understand and comprehend this phenomenon, a survey covering the fundamentals of gerontology as a field of scientific research and theoretical and practical knowledge is necessary. In gerontology field construction context is that we propose reflect, research and analyze the political dimension in the town of Santa Maria-RS, in a piece of time of thirty years when in 1984 comes the Integrated Center for Studies and Support for Elderly - NIEATI, of the Federal University of Santa Maria-UFSM, second core created in the country. This core has great importance for studies related to aging, much as to encourage the development of public policies that see this population, as well as major contributor and supporter of this research, making an intertwining of study, reflection and practice. This research has a qualitative descriptive exploratory nature, in which interviews were conduced with elderly protagonists, former presidents of the municipal council of elders, through focus group and experts of aging. Although managers do not engage in dialogue with these experts, it s become clear here the importance of the elderly to social, moral and ethics formation of santa-mariense society. Although the neglect with the elderly and the policies directed to it has been large, it s important to remember that the elderly, even in slow steps, have been searching for improvements in face of a management that pretends not to see them. Also the media was analyzed, through the newspaper A Razão , wich have daily circulation in the city, from the age of 1984 to 2014, with about nine thousand three hundred and sixty copies. The analysis also extended to the laws, as legal and local devices that benefit and guarantee the rights of the elderly. The study took into account the interlocution of these three actors: the protagonists elderly, aging experts and the media, fundamental pieces in the construction and reconstruction of knowledge field called gerontology. Finally we come to the conclusion that the Integrated Center for Studies and Support for Elderly Persons, breaks with the "conspiracy of silence" in Santa Maria, mobilizing older people to exercise their full citizenship and be protagonists of their personal and social histories, however we noted a certain disregard of public managers over these thirty years.