Considering very few people actually know what ageism is, it is surprising that it is maintained as a constant problem in society. Why has ageism not been eradicated and how does it spread? The main reason for this being, that even though ageism is not widely understood, there are any people who have an opinion over the status of the elderly in society. Ageist attitudes are subtly manifested and spread in our society, for example birthday cards that demean he progression of age, as though it is something to be ashamed about. Along with this are the lack of positive images of the elderly in media, such as television, newspapers and magazines. There is an extremely widespread vocabulary used to describe the elderly, pretty much all of which is unflattering, such as “fogey” and “old fossil”. However the problems occur beyond individuals, and institutions also perpetuate ageism. Many businesses maintain ageism and the stereotypes that are dragged along with it, often not hiring elderly people to work for them simply because they are over a particular age. Granted in some of the highly physical jobs it is more practical and understandable to higher a younger, stronger individual, however why should a younger person be any better at a job vacation such as a lawyer. Health care systems often discriminate against the elderly, focusing majorly on acute care and cure rather than chronic care, which are what older generations, suffer from. Welfare funds are usually targeted at younger generations, which exclude services that older persons would benefit dramatically from and in fact should be necessities, such as geriatric mental health services. Social services do not receive the information and education that is necessary, with social workers receiving particularly minimal information about the aging process in their training. Medical students do not receive geriatric training, which is ridiculous considering many of their patients will be made up of the elderly.
In Palmore’s book ‘ Ageism’, he talks about the common inaccuracies and misrepresentations held by those with ageist views. The first of which, is that the elderly are always suffering from an illness, that they contract diseases easily and are not able to fight illness sufficiently. However the National Centre for Health Statistics show that 81% of elderly people have no limitation in daily activities, and that elders have fewer acute illnesses than younger persons, less injuries in the home and fewer accidents while driving. Palmore also tells us that the old are seen as impotent, ugly and mentally insufficient. However, surveys and research has showed that most elders over the age sixty-five, still find sexual intercourse as attractive and fulfilling as before, and in cultures such as Japan, wrinkles and grey hair are seen as signs of wisdom and beauty. Other common misrepresentations that occur in ageist perspectives are that older generations are useless, isolated, poor and depressed. All of which are true to some extent but only because these are problems with all age generations in society, not simply the older ones. Or example a twenty-year-old man can be just as isolated, lonely and poor as an eighty year old man, these are not generation problems but societal difficulties on the whole. In fact studies performed by U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, have shown that a higher proportion of elders than the total population have a net worth of over $50, 000.
In order to completely understand what ageism is and what it involves, it is necessary to know what the consequences of ageism are. The consequences are similar to those, which are associated with racism and sexism. Similar to theories such as Labelling Theory, persons who are subjected to prejudice and discriminatory views can be forced to adopt the negative image that they have been characterised under. For example the elderly are assumed and expected to be useless, rigid and forgetful. Just as young black people in inner cities such as London or Manchester are seen as the main cause of crime in those areas because they are poor, and women are seen to be, like the old, defenceless and dependent on others. However what we must recognise as a society is that, whether these stereotypical characteristics are correct or not, they are problems with society as a whole and not with that particular group. For example, young black youths in inner cities are forced to live in poor areas of society and are not given the opportunities that others are given, women can be defenceless against men because society has enforced that role upon them, and elderly people cam be seen as ugly or boring because that is what our society wants them to be, just because they are not smooth skinned models, does not mean that they are in any way ugly. Palmore identifies four common responses to ageist opinions. These are ‘acceptance, denial, avoidance or reform’ (Palmore pp. 96-102). Therefore an elderly person may feel that he or she should appear old, even if they do not feel so inside. If an individual receives racist taunts, or simply feels that he or she is an outcast in a particular place due to their skin colour and culture, then they will naturally and understandably change the way that they act in society. It acts on the same principle when an elderly person receives rejection in society for being old, they may stop or reduce social activities. Internal negative imagery within a person, whether they are receiving racist, ageist or sexist abuse, can often cause that person being prejudice against him or herself. Persons whom are receiving prejudices against them can often shut them selves away from society, which is what Palmore calls the ‘avoidance’. It makes sense that if someone feels rejected due to their skin colour, they will want to hide or move to an area where they will be accepted, similarly, an elderly person may wish to avoid society by hiding in their home or moving into an old persons home where they will only be around other elders. This is also seen through victims of sexist abuse, where studies have shown that 65% of women who undergo such abuse, hide away in their homes because they are scared to go outside, in some cases women can even develop hatred towards men. As mentioned earlier the last response that one may take is ‘reform’, where an individual, or group of individual may take a stand against the prejudice that they are receiving. This can be seen in organisations like the American Association of Retired Persons, Crosspoint Anti- Racism, and the National Organization for Women Against Sexism. While all these organisations help awareness of these problems in our societies, it is clear that the problems are far too great to be combated easily, as we can all see, ageism, sexism and racism are all still prevalent in society on a large scale.
Racism, sexism and ageism are brought about and appear in modern society for similar reasons, largely because there are some people who blame them for problems in our society. Like the old, women can be portrayed as weak and feeble, not able to depend for themselves. Sexist views will blame women for the degradation of society, due to rampant divorce, broken families, disease, which are just as much the fault of men as it is women. Like the old, racist views will stem from feelings that foreigners are using resources in society that are not for them. For example, asylum seekers and the elderly, are blamed for needing medical treatment, and therefore consuming public resources which should not be given to them, when really society should start seeing them as humans who need necessary medical or societal benefit, just as much as everyone else, if not more. Another affinity that racism has with ageism is that elders are often denied employment or promotion, simply because they were old, and similarly, black people particularly, find it hard to get high paying jobs and promotions due to prejudices about their race.
However ageism is also very different, to sexism and racism, principally for two main reasons. Primarily age classification is constantly altering, as we get older and advance through the journey of life. Whereas classifications such as gender and race are constant in society. Secondly and more importantly in my opinion, we are all going to grow old eventually, whereas I will never be a female and I will also never turn Asian or African. So how does it make any sense to be ageist? How can an individual be prejudice against something that he or she will eventually become? This is how ageism against ones self occurs in society, the individual may commence being ageist to elders while they are young themselves, but as they turn old, they will resent themselves for being so. Similar to racism and sexism, ageism can also involve what is known as positive stereotyping. Although the stereotypes that are brought upon the elderly are of a positive nature, they still have a negative effect. For example, all women are great cooks and love to undertake in cooking for men. Although it is a positive stereotype, as in it is not abusing women directly, it is still incorrect and a generalisation that is insulting.
In order to fully understand what ageism is, and how it relates to other prejudices we must understand at least the basis of why it occurs. I argue that it is all based and structured around fear of the unknown and unfamiliar. For example, for many years racist battles and disputes have been fought over fear. The Americans in the deep south of America for example, were frightened by the arrival of Africans into their country, so they decided that it was better to kill as many as possible so that they would not have to face the fear of what thy did not understand. However if they had learnt from each other’s cultures, half the problems in the United States and in the world would not be apparent today. Many of the past wars have been fought because one society or group of beliefs fear the power of another, the U.S. and the middle east have been at war for years because both refuse to dismantle weapons because they live in fear of being left defenceless. Black people that live in white middle class neighbourhoods are still feared by residents, and will immediately be suspected, even in this modern day, with cities as multicultural as London, we cannot stop women clutching their handbags tighter when they pass a black person, or fights breaking out in bars over race. Sexism occurs because men are afraid of women, and women are afraid of men. Women are afraid of the power that a man can hold over them due to greater size and strength, and men are afraid of the mental anguish a woman can cause them. I believe that ageism occurs because old age is feared, and old age is feared because it is related to death, which is feared by most people. Kastenbaum tells us that ‘ as death is feared, old age is feared; death and old age are viewed as synonymous’ (Kastenbaum 1979). Butler reinforces this argument when he tells us that ‘ageism reflects a deep seated uneasiness on the part of the young and the middle- aged, a personal revulsion to and disgust for growing old, disease, disability, and a fear of powerlessness’ (Butler 1969 pp.243). In an effort to make the elderly different and outcasts from themselves, ageists are avoiding the reality of facing old age and the fear of dying.
Gender, and sexism and ageism are very closely related, and older women are characterized as ‘inactive, unhealthy, asexual and ineffective’ (Block et al 1981). They are portrayed as spinsters and widows and can sometimes even ludicrously be associated with old hags or witches. However research tells us that sexual interest and capability does not decrease in age for women. Older men are viewed as being healthier than older women, which simply reflects sexist views in society, even though it is a proven fact that women live on average up to seven years longer than men. The main problem occurs when women have lived their whole lives under the identification of their husbands, and are viewed as incapable of looking after themselves in old age without their husband. But research by Clark and Anderson tells us that women become more independent, more assertive and their self-image improves with age. As it can be seen women can be victims of ageism due to sexism and vice versa, although they are separate issues, they often come hand in hand.
As with sexism and racism, ageism has huge impacts on individuals self respect, esteem and motivation, limiting their potential in society. We will all eventually grow old, the most important thing is to accept that, as we must except women are no better than men, men are no better than women, and no race is superior to another. The older generation is very valuable to the structure of our society, and ageist perspectives are jut devaluing a valuable resource in our society. There are many battles going on to fight racism and sexism, but what is being done to combat ageism? To start with we can educate society more about growing old and the life of an elderly person. If we knew more about death and learnt about its spiritual aspects maybe we would not be so afraid of it, and ageism would not be so prevalent. Changes must be made in the media, institutions like businesses, government and social services. There are organisations such as the Gray Panthers, whom monitor and respond in a watchdog manner to negative images of the old in the media. We can see that there are many similarities between ageism, sexism and racism, and the problems are often interlinked. Whether or not these problems will ever be solved or eradicated from our society is the real issue. There certainly needs to be much more research into ageism, its problems, how it is brought about and the effects that it causes in society, as it is research is fairly limited. Unfortunately if we look at the research for racism and sexism, there is a massive amount but the problems still continue to persist.