The old lady from Ipanema: changing notions of old age in Brazil

This article identifies the main categories, notions, and values associated with aging in articles published in urban Brazilian print media 1967–2002, and uses these categories to trace several historical changes regarding what constitutes “successful” aging in Brazil. The historical changes include the transition of aging from a divine to more worldly concern; from a male to predominantly female preoccupation; from ‘old age’ to ‘third age.’ These transitions are intertwined with new moral hierarchies, and are linked to the medicalization of old age in the late twentieth century.