Representations of aging

Mar del Plate is a city with one of the largest old-age population in Argen tina. Considering that the aging processes take place in a social and cultu ral context, the social representation of aging was studied. The following issues were investigated: (1) social representation of aging, (2) self-repr esentation of the old person, (3) the relationships between bath sets of re presentations. The concept of "field" was used as an epistemological frame of reference, and the concepts of social psychology and of psychoanalysis w ere taken into consideration. An open questionnaire was applied, and quanti tative and qualitative analysis of the responses were carried out. The resu lts indicate that old age is considered in negative terms, as has also been found in previous investigations.