Contribuições da psicologia histórico-cultural para a compreensão da velhice

Abstract

This article aims at discoursing about the main activity in the old age, taking as point of reference, the assumptions of Cultural-Historical Psychology through the review of literature and interviews conducted with 10 retired seniors. This psychological school presents presuppositions that overcome the biological perspective, so common in the understanding of human development, which is herein characterized as periods influenced by historical conditions of the humanity marked by main or dominant activities. In a few words, it is noted that work seems to be the main activity in the old age, nevertheless, the relationship that the elderly maintain with their job is different from that one accomplished throughout adult life. In fact, most of the time they do not feel valued in a capitalist society in which people are worth at the rate of their production. The ageing process, according to Vygotsky school authors, is rooted in the social relations of production and must be understood through the analysis of these relations.