Ageism refers to prejudice and discrimination against people who share a common characteristic – in this case, old age. The World Health Organization defines it as “the stereotypes, prejudice (how we feel) and discrimination towards others or oneself based on age.”
The term was coined in 1968 by Dr. Robert Butler, the first director of the National Institute on Aging.
Deeper dive
Children as young as 4 years old become aware of their culture’s age stereotypes. They begin to internalize and use these stereotypes to guide their feelings and behavior towards people of different ages. They also draw on culture’s age stereotypes to perceive and understand themselves, which can result in self-directed ageism at any age. Ageism intersects and exacerbates other forms of disadvantage including those related to sex, race and disability, according to the WHO.
A report from the World Economic Forum suggests that there are four types of ageism: personal, institutional, intentional and unintentional.
● Personal ageism – making assumptions based on conscious or unconscious biases against older people, such as assuming an older person in a wheelchair is less than competent mentally.
● Institutional ageism – missions, rules and practices that discriminate against individuals and/or groups because of their older age. Some examples are4 bias against hiring older workers or movies that depict older people as irritating, decrepit and pitiable.
● Intentional Ageism – ideas, attitudes, rules or practices that are carried out with the knowledge that they are biased against individuals or groups because of their age. This includes practices that exploit the vulnerabilities of older people.
● Unintentional (inadvertent) ageism – ideas, attitudes, rules or practices that are carried out without the perpetrator’s awareness that they are biased against individuals or groups based on their older age.
The Age Discrimination Act of 1975 prohibits age discrimination in programs that receive federal financial assistance. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 prohibits job discrimination against people 40 and older. The Older Workers Benefit Protection Act amended ADEA to protect older workers’ employees benefits and define conditions under which they could be changed. In a recent Q&A, geriatrician and psychologist Tracey Gendron, PhD, Chair for the Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Gerontology, and author of Ageism Unmasked, explained how ageism permeates society and how journalists can become more aware of inadvertent age-bias in their reporting and writing.