Ageism

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Look up ageism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Ageism is stereotyping and prejudice against individuals or groups because of their age.[1] The term was coined in 1969 by US gerontologist Robert N. Butler to describe discrimination against seniors and patterned on sexism and racism[2].

Butler defined ageism as a combination of three connected elements. These were:

• prejudicial attitudes towards older people, old age and the ageing process
• discriminatory practices against older people
• institutional practices and policies that perpetuate stereotypes about older people[3]


The term has also been used to describe discrimination against teens and children, by ignoring their ideas because they're young or by assuming that they should behave a certain way because of their age.

Contents

[edit] Forms of ageism

Ageism is sometimes completely in the open. People use offensive language about older people when equivalent descriptions of minority ethnic groups or disabled people are socially unacceptable. Many people also express derogatory views about older people which either have no factual basis or are gross generalisations. It can also be hidden – either where people disguise their ageism or where it subconscious and they are not aware of it themselves. In Freakonomics, Stephen Levitt’s surprise hit of 2005, the study of hidden (or ‘implicit’) ageism was brought out of the psychologist’s laboratory and into the TV studio. Levitt described how, in the US version of the Weakest Link, contestants’ voting decisions were, on average, biased against older panellists. At the stage of the game where it is in participants’ interests to vote for poor performers older people were likely to be chosen even when younger adults had performed worse. But when contestants would benefit by choosing top performing rivals (to eliminate the competition) they tended to choose lower-performing older contestants. Subconsciously the panellists simply did not want to be around older people.[4]

‘Ageism’ consists of the stereotypes and prejudices people hold about people of different ages (whether open or hidden). The practices that result from these attitudes, at both personal and institutional level, are described as ‘age discrimination’. So, ageism refers to beliefs and attitudes; age discrimination is about actions.

Ageist stereotyping is a tool of cognition which involves categorising into groups and attributing characteristics to these groups. Stereotypes are necessary for processing huge volumes of information, which would otherwise overload us, and they are often based on a ‘grain of truth’ (for example the association between ageing and ill-health). However they cause harm when the content of the stereotype is incorrect with respect to most of the group; or where a stereotype is so strongly held that it overrides evidence which shows that an individual does not conform to it. Stereotypes are used to interpret the world around us. For example age-based stereotypes prime us to draw very different conclusions when we see an older and a younger adult with, say, back pain or a limp. We might well assume that the younger person’s condition was temporary and treatable, following an accident; while the older person’s condition was chronic and less susceptible to intervention. On average this might be true, but plenty of older people have accidents and recover quickly. This assumption may have no consequence if we make it in the blink of an eye as we are passing someone in the street; but if it is held by a health professionals offering treatment, or managers thinking about occupational health, it could inappropriately influence their actions and lead to age-related discrimination.

Ageist prejudice is a type of emotion which is often linked to the cognitive process of stereotyping. It can involve the expression of derogatory attitudes, which may then lead to the use of discriminatory behaviour. The example of the Weakest Link helps to explain the difference between stereotyping and prejudice. Where older contestants were rejected in the belief that they were poor performers this could well be the result of stereotyping. But older people were also voted for at the stage in the game where it made sense to target the best performers. This can only be explained by a subconscious emotional reaction to older people; in this case the prejudice took the form of distaste and a desire to exclude oneself from the company of older people.

Stereotyping and prejudice against different groups in society does not take the same form. Age-based prejudice and stereotyping usually involves older people being pitied, marginalised or patronised. This is described as ‘benevolent prejudice’ because the tendency to pity is linked to seeing older people as ‘friendly’ but ‘incompetent’. This is similar to the prejudice most often directed against women and disabled people. Age Concern’s survey revealed strong evidence of ‘benevolent prejudice’. 48% said that over-70s are viewed as friendly (compared to 27% who said the same about under-30s). Meanwhile only 26% believe over-70s are viewed as capable (with 41% saying the same about under-30s).

‘Hostile prejudice’ based on hatred, fear or threat (which often characterises attitudes linked to race, religion and sexual orientation) is less common with respect to age issues. But there are examples, including excessive rhetoric regarding inter-generational competition, and violence against vulnerable older people, which can be motivated by sub-conscious hostility or fear. Equality campaigners are often wary of drawing comparisons between different forms of inequality. But it is unquestionably true that abuse and neglect experienced by vulnerable older people (which is closely linked to hostile prejudice) kills more people each year than the shocking but relatively isolated cases of public violence motivated by race, religion or sexual orientation.

The impact of ‘benevolent’ and ‘hostile’ prejudice can be equally severe but tends to be different. The warmth felt towards older people means there is often public acceptance that they are deserving of preferential treatment – for example concessionary travel. But the perception of incompetence means older people can be seen as ‘not up to the job’ or ‘a menace on the roads’, when there is no evidence to support this. Benevolent prejudice also leads to assumptions that it is ‘natural’ for older people to have lower expectations, reduced choice and control, and less account taken of their views.br />


[edit] Effects

Ageism commonly and most likely refers towards negative discriminatory practices, regardless of the age towards which it is applied. The following terms are subsidiary forms of ageism:

  • Adultism is a predisposition towards adults, which is seen as biased against children, youth, and all young people who aren't addressed or viewed as adults.[5]
  • Jeunism is the tendency to prefer young people over older people. This includes political candidacies, commercial functions, and cultural settings where the supposed greater vitality and/or physical beauty of youth is more appreciated than the supposed greater moral and/or intellectual rigor of adulthood.
  • Adultcentricism is the "exaggerated egocentrism of adults.[6]
  • Adultocracy is the social convention which defines "maturity" and "immaturity," placing adults in a dominant position over young people, both theoretically and practically.[7]
  • Gerontocracy is a form of oligarchical rule in which an entity is ruled by leaders who are significantly older than most of the adult population.
  • Chronocentrism is primarily the belief that a certain state of humanity is superior to all previous and/or former times.

Ageism is said to lead towards the development of fears towards age groups, particularly:

[edit] Employment

[edit] Discrimination against younger workers

Like race and gender discrimination, age discrimination, at least when it affects younger workers, can result in unequal pay for equal work. Unlike race and gender discrimination, age discrimination in wages is often enshrined in law. For example, in both the United States[10] and the United Kingdom[11] minimum wage laws allow for employers to pay lower wages to young workers. Many state and local minimum wage laws mirror such an age-based tiered minimum wage. Outside of the law, older workers, on average, make more than younger workers do. Firms may be afraid to offer older workers lower wages than younger workers.

Labor regulations also limit the age at which people are allowed to work and how many hours and under what conditions they may work. In the United States a person must generally be at least 14 years old to seek a job, and workers face additional restrictions on their work activities until age 16.[12] Many companies refuse to hire workers under 18.

[edit] Discrimination against older workers

While older workers benefit from higher wages than younger workers, they face barriers in promotions and hiring. Employers may also encourage early retirement or lay off disproportionately older/more experienced workers.

Age discrimination in hiring has been shown to exist in the United States. Joanna Lahey, Economics professor at Texas A&M, found that firms are more than 40% more likely to interview a younger job applicant than an older job applicant.[13]

In a survey for the University of Kent, England, 29% of respondents stated that they had suffered from age discrimination. This is a higher proportion than for gender or race discrimination. Dominic Abrams, Social Psychology professor at the University, concluded that ageism is the most pervasive form of prejudice experienced in the UK population.[14]

[edit] Government responses

In the US, each state may have its own laws regarding age discrimination. In California, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act permits discrimination against persons under the age of 40. The FEHA is the principal California statute prohibiting employment discrimination, covering employers, labor organizations, employment agencies, apprenticeship programs and/or any person or entity who aids, abets, incites, compels, or coerces the doing of a discriminatory act. In addition to age, it prohibits employment discrimination based on race or color; religion; national origin or ancestry, physical disability; mental disability or medical condition; marital status; sex or sexual orientation; and pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.[15]

The federal government governs age discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA). The ADEA prohibits employment discrimination based on age with respect to employees 40 years of age or older as well. The ADEA also addresses the difficulty older workers face in obtaining new employment after being displaced from their jobs, arbitrary age limits.[16] The ADEA applies even if some of the minimum 20 employees are overseas and working for a US corporation.[17]

The United States federal government has responded to issues of ageism in governance through several measures in the past. They include the creation of the 1970s-era National Commission on Resources for Youthrt, which was created in the late 1960s as to promote youth participation throughout communities. Recently the federal government implemented the Tom Osborne Federal Youth Coordination Act, aiming to curb redundancy among federal service providers to youth.

Other countries that have laws addressing ageism include Australia, Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

[edit] Advocacy campaigns

Many current and historical intergenerational and youth programs have been created to address the issue of ageism. Among the advocacy organizations created in the United Kingdom to challenge age discrimination are Age Concern, the British Youth Council and Help the Aged.

In the United States there have been several historic and current efforts to challenge ageism. The earliest example may be the Newsboys Strike of 1899, which fought ageist employment practices targeted against youth by large newspaper syndicates in the Northeast. During the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was active in the national youth movement, including the formation of the National Youth Administration and the defense of the American Youth Congress. She made several statements on behalf of youth and against ageism. In one report entitled, "Facing the Problems of Youth," Roosevelt said of youth,

"We cannot simply expect them to say, 'Our older people have had experience and they have proved to themselves certain things, therefore they are right.' That isn't the way the best kind of young people think. They want to experience for themselves. I find they are perfectly willing to talk to older people, but they don't want to talk to older people who are shocked by their ideas, nor do they want to talk to older people who are not realistic."[18]

Students for a Democratic Society formed in 1960 to promote democratic opportunities for all people regardless of age, and the Gray Panthers was formed in the early 1970s with a goal of eliminating ageism in all forms.[19] Three O'Clock Lobby formed in 1976 to promote youth participation throughout traditionally ageist government structures in Michigan, while Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor started in 1970 to promote youth and fight ageism.

More recent U.S. programs include Americans for a Society Free from Age Restrictions, which formed in 1996 to advance the civil and human rights of young people through eliminating ageist laws targeted against young people, and to help youth counter ageism in America. [20] The National Youth Rights Association started in 1998 to promote awareness of the legal and human rights of young people in the United States. [21], and the Freechild Project was formed in 2001 to identify, unify and promote diverse opportunities for youth engagement in social change by fighting ageism.

[edit] Related campaigns

  • In 2002 the Writers Guild of America West has waged a legal battle within the entertainment industry to eliminate age discrimination commonly faced by elder scriptwriters.[citation needed]
  • Director Paul Weitz reported he wrote the 2004 film, In Good Company to reveal how ageism affects youth and adults.[22]
  • In 2002 The Freechild Project created an information and training initiative to provide resources to youth organizations and schools focused on youth rights.[23]

[edit] Accusations of ageism

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Nelson, T. (Ed.) (2002). Ageism: Stereotyping and Prejudice against Older Persons. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-64057-2. 
  2. ^ Kramarae, C. and Spender, D. (2000) Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women: Global Women's Issues and Knowledge. Routledge. p. 29.
  3. ^ Wilkinson J and Ferraro K, Thirty Years of Ageism Research. In Nelson T (ed). Ageism: Stereotyping and Prejudice Against Older Persons. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002
  4. ^ Levitt S and Dubner S, Freakonomics, Penguin, 2005, pp 77-79
  5. ^ Lauter And Howe (1971) Conspiracy of the Young. Meridian Press.
  6. ^ De Martelaer, K., De Knop, P., Theeboom, M., and Van Heddegem, L. (2000) "The UN Convention as a Basis for Elaborating Rights of Children In Sport," Journal of Leisurability. 27(2), pp. 3-10.
  7. ^ (n.d.) Youth Liberation Z magazine.
  8. ^ Fletcher, A. (2006) Washington Youth Voice Handbook. CommonAction.
  9. ^ Branch, L., Harris, D. & Palmore, E.B. (2005) Encyclopedia of Ageism. Haworth Press. ISBN 078901890X
  10. ^ Questions and Answers About the Minimum Wage, US Department of Labor
  11. ^ Age Positive, Department for Work and Pensions in Sheffield and London
  12. ^ Youth & Labor - Age Requirements, US Department of Labor
  13. ^ Lahey, J. (2005) Do Older Workers Face Discrimination? Boston College.
  14. ^ (2006) How Ageist is Britain? London: Age Concern.
  15. ^ California Fair Employment and Housing Act FindLaw.
  16. ^ Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 FindLaw website.
  17. ^ Morelli v. Cedel (2nd Cir. 1998) 141 F3d 39, 45 FindLaw website.
  18. ^ Roosevelt, A.E. (1935) "Facing the Problems of Youth," National Parent-Teacher Magazine 29(30). Retrieved 7/30/07.
  19. ^ Kuhn, M., Long, C. and Quinn, L. (1991) No Stone Unturned: the Life and Times of Maggie Kuhn. Ballentine Books.
  20. ^ ASFAR (2006). [1] Americans for a Society Free from Age Restrictions Articles of Incorporation.
  21. ^ National Youth Rights Association (2001).[2]National Youth Rights Association Articles of Incorporation (Partial)
  22. ^ Hellerman, A. (2005) Working Solo in Good Company Writers Guild of America, East website.
  23. ^ (n.d.) Survey of North American Youth Rights The Freechild Project website.
  24. ^ Cox, J. (2006) Brosnan Bares All For Playboy

[edit] External links