Privatization of old age: Suffering, disease and violence in the relationship between older adults and caregivers

Abstract

This article discusses the impact of “privatization of old age” on the quality of care and life of older adults and family-caregivers by crossing three procedures: study of data from medical records of older adults treated between 2009 and 2017 in the Specialized Protection and Care Service for Families and Individuals (PAEFI) of a municipality of São Paulo; study on the results of instruments to verify evidence of violence; and qualitative analysis of interviews with older adults and caregivers. The discussion introduces an original reflection of “privatization of old age”, considering not only the general tendency to dismantle social protection systems and the establishment of a family model of care for older adults, but also the effects of encapsulating the domestic sphere as private life, the progression of the nuclearization of family policies, the growing importance of neoliberal models of sociability and subjectivation. We addressed these processes considering the interwoven dynamics of social inequalities and family care policies. The results allow to capture pathogenic and violent effects of these processes, as corroborated by data on evidence (84%) and risk (62.1%) of violence, frequency of health problems (80%) and common mental disorders (55.2%) among caregivers.