What Is Ageism; What, If Any, Affinities Does It Have With Racism or Sexism?

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Toby Fowler

What Is Ageism; What, If Any, Affinities Does It Have With        

                                      Racism or Sexism?

Ageism is a very sensitive issue and one that therefore must be handled properly and sufficiently.  Both racism and sexism are topics which are widely recognised as problems within society and are constantly attempted to be combated, however ageism is not so widely recognised as a serious problem, an often people will not actually know what it is, or even that it exists in society.  Primarily we must state and identify what ageism, racism and sexism are by definition.  Only after this can we attempt to investigate what ageism actually is, why it is a problem, how it appears and occurs in our society, the problems that it causes and what can be done to counteract the problems of ageism.  Once we have established these entities, we can compare ageism to other sociological issues such as racism and sexism and whether or not there are any affinities, or similarities among them.  Ageism is defined as, “any attitude, action or institutional structure, which subordinates a person or group because of age or any assignment of roles in society purely on the basis of age”(Traxler 1980).  Robert Butler, who was the first director of the National Institute on Aging, brought about the term ‘ageism’.  Butler likened ageism to racism and sexism and often compared the three issues as major problems.  Racism is defined as ‘belief in an innate superiority in a particular race over another’ or, ‘antagonism to a different race based on this belief’ (2000 Oxford dictionary).  Sexism is classified as ‘discrimination towards another on the basis of their sex’ (2000 Oxford dictionary).  Even from their basic definitions we can see the similarities that all three have in common, racism, sexism an ageism are all prejudices against a human being due to a single outlining factor, whether it be sex, age or skin colour.  

          Erdman Palmore wrote a book called ‘Ageism’ in 1990, within which he outlined the major characteristics that form the stereotypical views, which make up ageism.  He tells us about negative stereotyping and states that in a negative stereotype, ‘favourable characteristics are either omitted entirely or insufficiently stressed’ (pp.151-152).  The problems that occur in a stereotype about an elderly person are almost always completely incorrect, and stereotypes class groups of people as the same.  They do not recognise ‘individual variation’ among the old, which actually couldn’t be further from the truth.  Individual variation in elders is in fact particularly high due to the different backgrounds in history, for example some would have served in the war and encountered events that one could never imagine and others would have not.  In Palmore’s book, Edith Stein outlined some examples of negative ageism, which can demonstrate how elderly people can be wrongly represented through an ageist viewpoint.  For example she explains that if a person of old age was to hesitate or falter briefly, then would be seen as ‘infirm’.  She also talks about how elderly persons are treated like babies, constantly being protected, or labelled as senile because they forget the name of another individual.  Which is something that myself has done from time to time, yet cause I am young, it is seen as nothing.  Ageism brings many issues into debate and Edith Stein explains that even though sexual intercourse is an everyday occurrence in almost all humans lives, and is all around us, an elderly person cannot show feelings of a sexual nature without being considered ‘dirty’.  The older generation are stereotyped as cranky, boring and repetitive, and society has even started to view them as a nuisance.  

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       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 ...

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