Human beings have different stages of life. It starts from childhood, then into adulthood and finally comes the old age. Every period of life has its own opportunities and challenges. If we look deeply into different phases of our lives, the old age is considered to be more difficult and less liked by the people. Now the question is why this is so? Is there something in our minds, certain perceptions or thinking patterns, which has made us believe that old age or older people should be seen in a particular light or they should behave or react in a particular manner? The answer is that society’s expectations both at individual and societal level has shaped our thinking about certain groups to be stereotypical.
Ageism generally refers to holding negative stereotypes, attitudes or behaviors towards people of different ages. It involves discriminating people solely on the basis of their age. It results in belittlement and degradation of people due to their age same as sexism and racism discriminate people on the basis of their gender and color of skin. The word ageism was first used by gerontologist named Robert Butler in 1969 to describe prejudice against older people. His observation of his fellow students made him realized that there exist a negative attitude towards older adults as he listened them calling older people with different names like “old witches and geezers”. He observed young students around him devalue their actual needs and consider them insignificant. Now this term is used to describe discrimination against all age groups including children, young people, teenagers, adults and older people.
Have you ever looked towards senior citizens and certain characteristics comes to your mind? There are certain negative stereotypes younger people hold against older people. Most of them include being conventional, forgetful, incompetent, less physical healthy, critical and lot more. But have you ever wondered are they just your thoughts or there is some reality in that? If we look into literature there is certain work on ageism which reflects that such stereotypes are affecting the lives of older adults both at individual and societal levels.
North and Fiske (2013) identified three ways in which younger people are stereotyped against older people. She called first one succession. It relates to thinking of young people that older adults have already achieved so much in their lives now they should give them way towards success. They already have their turns. Second kind of stereotype is consumption. Younger people assumes that the major portion of all resources should be assigned to them rather than wasting them on older adults. Lastly, younger individuals have also certain expectations about the identity of older people. They believe that older adults should behave according to their age. They should speak, walk and dress in a manner that is age appropriate.
If we look around we would be able to find out that ageism is quite common in our society. It is usually depicted in our practices, behaviors and policies.
Manifestation at the individual level
The effect of stereotypes related to ageism can have negative effect on the both younger and older adults. The younger people can internalize such stereotypes and behave accordingly in their old age. Older adults can elicit certain negative emotional responses in younger people. It reminds them that beauty and health is temporary and it will fade one day. This might lead to anxiety in younger people that eventually they would catch fatal disease and would die. There is a close link between prejudice and anxiety as demonstrated by many researches. For example, Bousfield and Hutchison (2010) found that younger people who are more anxious has less contact with older adults. Moreover, younger people who are more anxious tend to attribute more negative qualities to older participants and they are less willing to lend a helping hand to elderly. In the same way stereotypes also have detrimental effect on the physical and mental health of older adults. As one study revealed that when older adults are exposed to negative stereotypes they reported greater levels of dementia worry as compared to when they are exposed to positive stereotypes (Molden " Maxfield, 2016).
Manifestation at the societal level
Ageism causes us to accept stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination against older people and denying their rights at societal level which includes segregating them in old houses, discriminating them at workplaces and perceiving them less competent in many areas of life. Some older adults are forced to leave their jobs as they are perceived as burden because of greater utilization of health funds and companies feel that they would be less productive. As a society we don’t give them space to be themselves. It is a general perception that they don’t need to go for outing and enjoy themselves like younger people. Another factor is their representation on Media. If we look at TV advertisements most of them portrayed them negatively whereas few of them show their positive qualities. Another such example is the prime time TV show named as The Simpson in which older people are showed in negative stereotypical way depicting qualities like dependent, confused, miser, shrewd and mean.
Conclusion
As we have seen that how ageism is negatively affecting lives both at individual and societal levels. There is a need to create awareness among general public to reduce its detrimental effects. First step is accepting that ageism exist and there is a need to challenge stereotypical assumptions about older people. The next step is to develop such kind of society that embrace every stage of human journey i.e. from childhood to older age.
References
Blaine, B.E., " Brenchley, K.J.M. (2017). Understanding the Psychology of Diversity. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications Inc.
Bousfield, C., " Hutchison, P. (2010). Contact, anxiety, and young people's attitudes and behavioral intentions towards the elderly. Educational Gerontology, 36(6), 451-466.
Cherry, K. (2018). How does Ageism Impact More Than Just Older Adults? Retrieved on March 29, 2018 from https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-ageism-2794817
Fisher, A. What is Ageism? Retrieved on March 29, 2018 from https://radicalagemovement.org/what-is-ageism/
Molden, J., " Maxfield, M. (2017). The impact of aging stereotypes on dementia worry. European journal of ageing, 14(1), 29-37.
North, M. S., " Fiske, S. T. (2013). Act your (old) age: Prescriptive, ageist biases over succession, consumption, and identity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39(6), 720-734.
