Ageism And Discrimination In The Workplace

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Merriam-Webster defines bias as a particular tendency or unreasoned judgment against a person or a group (Bias). The most common biases are based on race, gender, sexuality, and ageism. In this case, the bias is ageism. Ageism is a case of ridicule and discrimination against those of older generations. Openly discussed or not, ageism is very much within the American job industry whether it be in advertising by certain companies or in the everyday work life within businesses. Unfortunately, ageism is found within American businesses specifically in the arena of hiring and promotion. In 2013, a study by AARP found that “approximately two-thirds of older workers (45-74) say that they have seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace” …show more content…

When addressing ageism, discrimination is one of the first things that come to mind. Younger generations discriminate against the older persons due to their bias that older people are slowly inching towards uselessness and that they are too old to understand the perceptions of new generations. Each generation finds newer technology that tends to one-up the previous generation. The perception is that older persons do not have the knowledge, the expertise or the desire to work with new technology. An example of this is in 2014 when a 66-year-old man was harassed and discriminated against by his fellow co-workers while working at a Staples (Daily news). Due to his age, his younger co-workers and managers sought to reduce his pay and ridicule him with constant slurs about his age (Daily News). They had even gone to great lengths as to try and fire him (Daily …show more content…

There is a consistent pattern of ignoring and not hiring qualified workers of older ages. They appear to avoid the hiring of older workers even though they are perfectly qualified for their posted entry-level positions. First, there are no current workers within the company who are above the age of 25. Second, there is not only one, but two previous examples of this company not hiring qualified older workers who provided adequate work experience. Finally, there is the potential of Curtis not being hired even though he has the experience needed. That is why the key concept that is most prominent when dealing with this case would be a diachronic vision. It displays such as this keep occurring, then age discrimination may become even worse for future generations. Annually, 2.8% of the population in the United States is hitting senior status (Census.gov). There needs to be an active defense against ageism as eventually, the number of seniors will outweigh the number of younger persons and society will have to be ready to adjust and accept this change. Willingness to take on cases of potential ageism has improved with this diachronic view as seen in 2015 when a fired Walmart manager won $150,000 proving he was fired due to

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