Is society ageist?

Our society often holds negative stereotypes about older adults, which are evident in language, media, and humour. Common phrases like "over the hill" and "don't be an old fuddy-duddy" depict aging as a period of weakness and incompetence. This bias against older individuals is termed "ageism."

Ageism is defined as any attitude, action, or societal structure that marginalizes individuals or groups based on age or assigns roles purely on age. Ageism reflects a societal prejudice against older adults.

However, ageism differs from other forms of prejudice, like sexism and racism, in two keyways. First, age classification is dynamic, changing as one progresses through life, unlike fixed categories like race and gender. Second, nearly everyone will experience ageism unless they die prematurely, affecting individuals on two levels: they may stereotype others based on age, and they may internalize ageist attitudes affecting their self-concept.

A substantial amount of research has been conducted on ageism, but the empirical evidence is inconclusive due to methodological differences and errors. Several methodological issues in ageism research are worth discussing.

First, a prevalent problem in ageism research is a mono-method bias, where each study employs only one method to define ageism. This singular focus on age highlights age differences in the subject's mind and leads to the discovery of age-related disparities.

Second, many studies on ageism use predominantly younger populations to investigate ageist attitudes. These studies often focus on children, adolescents, or young adults, rather than the older adults who are most affected by ageism. Furthermore, the few studies that involve older subjects often use institutionalized individuals, who do not represent the broader population of older adults.

Additionally, ageism research tends to concentrate on negative stereotypes of old age, disregarding more recent findings that suggest increasingly positive attitudes. Nevertheless, these attitudes remain stereotypical, including positive stereotypes that are rarely studied.

Two theoretical issues are also prevalent in ageism research. Firstly, there is a lack of exploration into the root causes of ageism, despite significant theoretical work in this area. Empirical research is needed to understand these contributing factors better. Secondly, ageism research often neglects to examine the interactions between ageism and other forms of prejudice. As many individuals may experience multiple prejudices simultaneously, it is essential to investigate how these prejudices interact with each other.