Representaciones sociales del cuidado: entre las prácticas y la noción de alteridad

This work searches to reflect about social representations as complex and opened systems, that shape the relations with the society and, in turn, are shaped by the social-historic and cultural systems in a dialectic relation. We adopt the Theory of the Social Representations (Moscovici and Jodelet), inside of a broader context of the constructivism. In two researches on the prevention of accidents carried through since 1993 - with children of initial level (4-6 years) and with adults (65 years or more) - we found empirical references that allows us to relate both subjects. We found relations between the construction of care with others and with themselves, with the citizenship participation, either in political parties or organizations of the civil society: foments’ societies, clubs, and self managed collectives contingently organized to obtain a common benefit, that place demands to the authorities. The association of words was the used method, carried through in depth interviews with key informers, besides participant observation.