Identidade e Consumo na Meia-idade: Uma Perspectiva Teórica

Abstract

The middle-age period seems particularly important, since life changes are evidenced and can be marked by a period of 'crisis' where priorities are altered and there is a process of re-evaluation of factors present in daily. Most of these changes are related to the identity process of the individual, on what consumption has a strong contribution. However, during a 'crisis' process, could consumption represent an element of identity reconfiguration? To discuss the theme, a theoretical study was carried out on middle age and crisis, the process of consumption and extension of self, and identity in middle age. In this period, it is possible to identify significant changes in roles, ambiguities, contradictions and other life instabilities. The middle-age crisis is differentiated for men and women, and conflicts over the ego and acceptance of the onset of aging are present. The reconfiguration of the self from consumption was directed by conspicuous consumption, aesthetics, leisure and education. The re-signification of identity and the process of inherent consumption may contribute to the fact that the middle-age crisis is not a strange period of suffering but experienced as a moment of personal growth.