Consumo, Velhice, Superendividamento: um estudo da política pública de proteção e defesa do consumidor no município de Fortaleza, Ceará

Abstract

This article is the result of research developed in 2024 through the UECE Postgraduate Program in Public Policies to obtain the title of master’s in planning and public policies. Therefore, it aims to investigate the Municipal Consumer Protection and Defense Policy, from the perspective of the consumer in old age, with a view to identifying correlations with the phenomenon of over-indebtedness, a social problem resulting from the credit policy that promotes the market for consumption, the basis of support for the current economic system. The research is based on the hypothesis that over-indebtedness reduces the quality of life of consumers in old age, depriving them of access to social rights (health, food and housing). And that abuse is committed against the public of consumers in old age, aggravated because of their hypervulnerable condition. In this sense, the research had a dialectical materialist theoretical basis. To verify these hypotheses, we carried out research whose approach was mainly qualitative. Data collection was carried out through participant observation, document analysis and semi-structured interviews, therefore, through data processing and creation of categories, we tested our hypotheses and confirmed that over-indebtedness makes the full exercise of social rights unfeasible. and affects the quality of life in old age in the municipality of Fortaleza - Ceará.