Dependency and autonomy: an anthropological approach from the care of the elderly

Abstract

Through a review of care policies and active aging policies in Spain, relying on some ethnographic examples drawn from the author's fieldwork, the article proposes a critical reflection of such concepts as dependency, autonomy and vulnerability and the relationship between aging and elderly care. The analysis shows the existence of some contradictions between discourse and practice of these policies, apparently antagonistic in their definitions, encouraging a change of perspective to include the concept of interdependence and relational autonomy in scientific production and in social policies, to go beyond distinction between care-giver (independent subject) and care-receivers (dependent object).