State and old age social policies in Portugal (1990-2008)

Abstract

Assuming that the State, through the implementation of social policies for old age, has contributed greatly to the institutionalization of the social problem of old age and the construction of representations of what is “being old”, this article makes a critical reflection of some of the governmental speech that targeted the elderly in Portugal. It identifies trends in public administration of old age and the sense of social policies in defining the contours of addressing it. We make a qualitative analysis of the contents of the government measures (published in the Official Gazette) that determined the public administration of “the old age theme” in Portugal from 1990 to 2008.