Laboreal (Dec 2005)
Envelhecimento, trabalho e cognição: 80 anos de investigação
Abstract
The aim of this thematic revision is to draw a possible course for the research history in ageing and work, describing the evolution of studies in this area, since the initial research in the 20´s and their development during the post-war period until today. We attempt to critically reflect on how this evolution occurred; its relations with socio-economic and demographic conditions that characterize each period; and the theoretical and methodological consequences of that evolution, either in the conceptualization of ageing or in research methods that are privileged. In the context of theoretical repercussions the approaches based on the cognitive dimension of ageing will be analysed in more detail, discussing the limits and the arguments that were conducive to the emergence of other traditions more directed towards the influences of context and situation, emphasizing the experience and the individual history of subjects. These approaches correspond to a methodological tradition witch privilege field research, conducted in real contexts, largely developed in work psychology and ergonomic domains. The final part of this text refers to the most recent theoretical orientations which lead to the genesis of a new approach to the study of ageing in their relation with work.
