Advantages And Disadvantages Of Ageism

Deolinda Skjon

Ms. Stoltz

English 1711-12

December 16, 2015

Ageism and Its Differences and Similarities to Other Prejudices.

Ageism, or discrimination based on age, is different from the more commonly recognized prejudicial “isms,” such as racism, sexism, and classism, because (1) its membership is more fluid and, given a full lifespan, affects everyone, appearing natural, (2) category membership is acquired gradually, (3) there is little overt conflict between perpetrators and victims of ageism (Palmore 16), and (4) its consequences are experienced quite differently by different sectors of society (Nerenberg 217-240). Ageism is thus more insidious than other societal prejudices, because people are generally less aware of it and victims of

ageism are less likely to acknowledge it or fight against it. However, ageism is similar to racism and sexism insofar as it can negatively affect one’s self-image and access to societal resources. Therefore, although we cannot equate ageism with racism, sexism, or classism, we can use many of the same tactics, both legal and attitudinal, that have been developed in the fight against other “isms” to combat ageism as well. However, in order to be effective, we must recognize the specific characteristics of ageism first.
The term ageism was first penned by Robert Butler in his seminal work, “Why Survive? Being Old in America.” There, he gave this classic definition of ageism:
“[a] process of systematic stereotyping or discrimination against people because they are old, just as racism and sexism accomplish with skin colour and gender. Ageism allows the younger generations to see older people as different than themselves; thus they subtly cease to identify with their elders as human beings” (48).
This kind of dehumanization is the hallmark of all societal prejudices. However, aging and ageism have unique attributes that make it more insidious than other prejudices.
First of all, ageism is potentially a problem for everyone, since we all, given a full lifespan, will experience old age. However, we pass most of our lives viewing the aged as an out-group, and acquire prejudices against them just as we would other out-groups, such as other ethnicities or the opposite sex. Once we become members of the oldest age group, many of these lived attitudes and practices can be turned against ourselves, leading to self-contempt and low self-esteem. This in turn can create real conditions for decline. In one classic study, Levy and Langer (1984) compared elderly North Americans to elderly Chinese. They found scores of deafness between young and old were five times greater for North Americans than for Chinese. They attributed this discrepancy to differences in the two cultures’ attitude towards aging and the elderly. In China, the elderly are still admired and respected for their wisdom and experience, and there is much less expectation of decline. In North America, on the other hand, elderly are regarded much less positively, and old age is commonly associated with the three “D”s: Disease, Disability, and Death. The researchers concluded that these attitudes can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, by which elder North Americans become more deaf as they age simply because they expect to. It is therefore difficult to fight against these effects because the preconceptions appear natural to its victims. Indeed, one of the study’s researchers, Levy, along with several colleagues, concluded in a later study that seniors with a positive view of aging live 7.5 years longer than those with negative attitudes (Levy, Slade, Kunkel, Kasl 268).
Secondly, unlike racism and sexism, membership in age cohorts is fluid. Although recent news of a self-identifying African American such as Rachel Dolezal, or transgender individuals like Kaitlyn Jenner, suggest that race and sex are fluid categories as well, the fact is most people will inhabit the categories of race and sex in which they were born for their entire lives. As one matures, one learns of the cultural privileges and prejudices attached to different categories of race and sex, and it is relatively easy to note one’s position in this matrix of attitudes, and internalize that position. Age, on the hand, is constantly changing and involves multiple phases and identities, none of which is abrupt or sharp-edged. Each day that passes we are a day older. As the days, months, and years accumulate, we gradually pass the soft thresholds of infancy, childhood, young adulthood, middle-age, and old age. Furthermore, for transracial or transgender individuals, changes in appearance begin with deliberate acts, like buying a wig or make-up. Aging happens whether we wish to age or not, always creeping up on us, yet we tend to cling to many of the age-related prejudices of our youth, rather than adjust our view to our new position.
Thirdly, in racist and sexist societies, there is often open conflict between perpetrators and victims of group-based prejudices, but in ageist societies, the conflict is often covert, diffuse, and subtle. Recent protests against police brutality, for example, have had a highly racialized quality and have been highly public, and the women’s movement was marked by demonstrations and highly publicized legal battles such as Roe v. Wade, or the suffragette movement for an earlier generation. With ageism, however, the conflict is often conducted in imperceptible, sometimes well-intending slights, or disguised as harmless humor, as in birthday cards mocking grandma or grandpa as being ‘over the hill.’ Even overt offenses are rarely recognized by victims to the same degree that racist or sexist offences are recognized by their victims:
“Age cases tend to be treated differently than other discrimination cases, ... The most
noticeable difference from a human rights perspective is the lack of a sense of moral opprobrium linked to age discrimination which in comparable circumstances would generate outrage if the ground of discrimination were, say, race, sex or disability” (Ontario Human Rights Commission 51).
Thus, although numerous studies have shown that younger people harbor ageist attitudes towards elders, rarely has there been open conflict akin to that experienced between different races or sexes.
Finally, ageism affects different segments of society quite differently, making it difficult to disentangle ageism from, for example, racism, sexism, or classism.

Nerenberg (217) has shown, for example, that poor older black women are much more likely to be victims of elder abuse than affluent, older white men. In fact, affluent elder men are often likely to experience positive ageism, as they are accorded patriarchal respect and enjoy several institutional biases, such as accumulated wealth along with Medicare, which is free health care reserved exclusively for seniors. These differences in what ageism means for different elderly populations, and consequent differences in abuse or privilege, make it difficult for the elderly to organize as a voting block or social

movement.
These distinctions between ageism and other “Isms” can be highlighted by looking at how ageism’s unique characteristics are experienced quite differently in the health care and employment sectors.
In health care, many of the same health issues involved in aging are a concern for all, thus specific instances of ageism are often disguised or difficult to recognize.

For one thing, health concerns arise gradually as we age, from relatively infrequent when we are young, to relatively frequent when we are old. Therefore, there is the expectation that the old will be infirm, senile, or incompetent, even when they are merely sick, or have forgotten a single item, and lack a specific skill. In other words, a fault that may arise from a single incident is thought of as a general condition. The young, on the other hand, are usually given the benefit of a doubt. Furthermore, because the health care system mainly deals with elderly when they have health concerns, aging is medicalized and viewed as a problem more generally, with little positive value. Finally, because health is associated with youth, and decline with age, all illness in old age tends to be associated with the mere fact of aging, and thus given less attention with fewer preventative measures

taken.
In the employment sector, by contrast, there is the general expectation that one will get better at one’s job as one gains experience. It is quite a shock, therefore, when employees begin to experience ageism, whether subtle—such as underlying, stereotyped assumptions that older workers have a hard time learning new skills, have a reduced work capacity, or have trouble keeping up with technological change—or abrupt, such as being told to retire at a certain age. Indeed, although there are few age maximums in other areas of life, the notion of a retirement age, implicit or explicit, was until recently considered normal.
Nonetheless, many would counter that ageism is very similar to racism, sexism, or classism in its effects, and its solution must also follow the successful strategies of these movements, namely, (1) attaining legal rights and (2) changing popular attitudes. This counterargument certainly has some validity. Many more banal forms of ageism escape attention, because they occur outside of institutional contexts where the prejudice is specific to the aged, like in nursing homes where victims can suffer elder abuse, hospitals where elder patients are common, or in employment where ageism may be institutionalized as a retirement age. However, only about 5%, for example, of the elderly are housed in institutions (Nerenberg 155), and workers may not feel the effects of ageism until the very day of retirement. The way ageism acts outside of these contexts has much in common with racism, sexism, and classism, in that it often involves subtle micro-aggressions that are difficult to pin down.
Therefore, the fight against ageism must be twofold. First, all legal action, if it is to be effective, must address the specific characteristics of ageism as they are revealed in institutional contexts like health care and employment. Second, in addition to legal actions in institutional contexts, the fight against ageism must work to reshape our attitudes towards aging more generally, just as civil rights movements have successfully made us question the ‘natural’ role of different races or sexes.

Works Cited.
Butler, Robert. Why Survive?: Being Old in America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 2002. Print.
Levy, Becca; Langer, Ellen. “Aging Free from Stereotypes: Successful Memory in China Among
the Deaf.” Journal of Personality & Social Psychology. 66(1994): 935-93. Web 11 December 2015.
Levy B, Slade M, Kunkel S, Kasl S. “Longevity Increased by Positive Self-perceptions of
Aging.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 83.2 (2002): 261-70. Web 11 December 2015.
Nerenberg, Lisa. Elder Abuse Prevention: Emerging Trends and Promising Strategies.
New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2007. Print.
Ontario Human Rights Commission. Time for Action: Advancing Human Rights for Older
Ontarians. Web 11 December 2015.
Palmore, E. Ageism Negative and Positive (Second edition). New York, NY: Springer, 1999.
Print.