Tópico Especial: Gerontologia Crítica e Trabalho Social

This study presents a lived experience report during participation in the course Special Topic: Critical Gerontology and Social Work, held in the second semester of 2021 as part of the PhD program in Social Work (PPGSS – Postgraduate Program in Social Work) at UNESP – São Paulo State University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Franca Campus/SP. Given the thesis topic titled "Social Protection in Ensuring the Rights of Older Adults: Approaches between Brazil and Portugal", the course was highly relevant in advancing research on ageing and old age within capitalist society. Aiming to understand the ageing process and human old age, we argue that it is essential to study them in their entirety, from a critical perspective, analyzing the complexities inherent in historical and social processes. Ageing is already considered by many researchers as a “phenomenon” shaped and limited by capitalist society, where older individuals are viewed as unproductive and oppressed, preventing them from living with dignity. From the perspective of critical social gerontology and through the analysis of two explanatory theories—the Francophone and Anglo-Saxon approaches—the research is guided by Marx’s historical-dialectical materialism. It adopts a bibliographic and documentary methodology, using theoretical and methodological tools to support a critical reflection on totality, as required by the method. This study is committed to deepening the discussion on ageing and human old age, considering its social, scientific, technological, and economic relevance, its potential for replication, and its collective contribution.