The power relations in the daily life of the institutions for the elderly

Abstract

This article has as a presupposition that the institutional power manifests in the quotidian of the elderly homes of elderly people in the control of routines, in the adhesion of the proposed ideas, in the relation of knowledge and power of the institutional actors. The aim of the research, carried out in an elderly institution, was to understand those power relations in the quotidian. The method used was the direct observation for three months in 2008, implying registers and talks or non structured interviews. The results show that in their quotidian, the elderly institutions blend a philanthropic humanist of ideas with a disciplinary control system and an adaptation of measuring the legal guarantees of rights, but with homogenized norms and practices that make the leading power predominant.

Key words - Elderly people. Institutional power. Elderly homes. ILPIS.