What Is Ageism?

Ageism is a concept that has been around for a very long time. According to a philosopher named Seneca who lived sometime between 4 BC and 65 AD, “Senectus morbidus est” which has been translated to say, “old age is a disease”. However, when Seneca said this the idea of “ageism” was not a thing. It did not get the name ageism till 1969, after Robert N. Butler coined the term. The act of ageism is something we all try to avoid, however most of the time we don’t see something or someone who is doing or saying something that could be considered to be ageism. All though we don’t always see it, ageism is something that happens almost every day of our life; it is that beer commercial with a “sexy” young female in it. Ageism is when a coworker is forced to retire at a specific age. There are even studies that show the ageism stereotypes becoming more common on our social media outlets. The problem with these stereotypes becoming more common in social media is that more and more people are being exposed to something that is starting to have a very big impact in our country, ageism.
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shows broadcasted on television. According to Tom Robinson’s article Older Adults of Offensive Senor Stereotypes in Magazine Advertisements: Results of A Q Method Analysis, he stats that, “They may cause people to think of the older population as less worthy than other groups or that they would not enjoy the company of an older person.” (they being stereotypes). What he is saying is that due to the ageism stereotypes that are shown through the media the younger population are becoming less excepting and less tolerable towards the older adult population. A quote by Palmore used in the same article by Robinsons states, “Negative stereotypes of the elderly are the underpinnings of ageism which involves prejudice and discrimination against older people” (1990.