In the process of population aging in rural area, social support networks are essential for the reproduction of the group in which, due to tradition in the rural area, the family stands out as an essential unit of economic cooperation and main source of social support in this context. Considering the dynamism of the territory, the transformations it can affect, mutually, the possibilities of this support. In this paper, aspects of social support among families of elderly farmers were focused having as a reference the notion of social network in rural area and as empiric universe two rural communities (São Pedro and Retiro São Bento), in the district of Joselândia, municipality of Barão de Melgaço, state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. It is a study guided by the socioanthropological perspective that allowed understanding the subjects' viewpoint, using the qualitative approach. Eighteen elderly people from 11 families, eight families from São Pedro and three from São Bento were interviewed. Overall, the elderly inhabitants interviewed do not separate the physical dimension of the land from its symbol - which is the whole meaning of their existence. In various everyday situations, kinship, friendship and identity joined people in reciprocity relations, for several reasons, with attention to the role of the ties for health maintenance. The support networks widen, in the case of care for diseases and other support networks are set up for the access to health services. This elasticity/plasticity from network to support combines with the notion of territoriality due to its material and symbolic connotation.
aging; rural area; social support; networks
