How to Characterize Aging? Socio-Professional Perceptions of Older People in Peñalolén (Santiago, Chile)

Abstract

Chile is one of the fastest aging countries in Latin America, and the country is currently at an advanced stage of demographic transition. Projec-tions highlight that that in another decade, Chile will emerge as an aging economy. Within the framework of the Fondecyt Regular 1201115 project: “Gender and Aging: An Ethnography on the Social and Moral Organization of Care in the Peñalolén commune (Santiago, Chile),” in this article, we address the findings of a case study on the social organization of elderly care in the Peñalolén commune (Metropolitan Region, Chile). We do so in conjunction with social and gender inequalities from a feminist perspective. The aim of the article is to analyze the social perceptions about aging held by professionals of municipal services working with the elderly population in this specific context. We conducted interviews with these workers using an ethnographic approach that integrated both digital and in-person methodological strategies, and subjected the information collected to a thorough discourse analysis using MaxQDA software (2001 version). The results reveal that the interviewed professionals’ perceptions of old age intermingle the definitions of old age derived from regulatory and public policy frameworks with their own personal and professional experiences in the communal territory. They also demonstrate the multidimensional nature of the inequalities faced by the elderly in Peñalolén, perceived by professionals as demands to be addressed in the exercise of their work. In sum, we propose a perspective of old age and aging that considers its complexity in terms of situated territorial experience by applying ethnographic listening with a gender perspective of the various actors working with the elderly individuals in each context.