Abstract

DE HARO HONRUBIA, Alejandro. El estigma en la vejez: Una etnografía en residencias para mayores. Intersecciones antropol. [online]. 2014, vol.15, n.2, pp.445-459. ISSN 1850-373X.

This paper concerns an anthropology of old age. The ethnographic work that forms its basis was a study of the processes of stigmatization related to the world of old people and, for this reason, was located in residential institutions for the elderly, both private and religious. All are located in the community of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. Public old people´s homes in the same community were also visited. Old age is seen as an evil and considered an illness which alters order and vital balance and pollutes, as Mary Douglas has argued. The stigma of old age affects senile people in particular. As such, senility is a symbol of stigma.

Keywords : Stigma; Old age; Ethnography; Old people's home; Caring.

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