Product Description

Along with race and gender, people commonly use age to categorize—and form stereotypes about—others. Of the three categories, age is the only one in which the members of the in-group (the young) will eventually join the out-group (the old). Although ageism is found cross-culturally, it is especially prevalent in the United States, where most people regard growing older with depression, fear, and anxiety. Older people in the United States are stigmatized and marginalized, with often devastating consequences.

Although researchers have paid a great deal of attention to racism and sexism, there has been a dearth of research on ageism. A major reason for this neglect is that age prejudice is still considered socially acceptable. As baby boomers approach retirement age, however, there has been increased academic and popular interest in aging. This volume presents the current thinking on age stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination by researchers in gerontology, psychology, sociology, and communication. The book presents theoretical and empirical findings on the origins and effects of ageism, as well as suggestions on how to reduce ageism for the approaching "graying of America."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #475922 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 388 pages

From The New England Journal of Medicine
Of all the "isms" that connote stereotyping or prejudice against a group of people, ageism may be the strangest. Unlike racism, sexism, and homophobia, ageism represents a prejudice against a group that all members of the "in" group will inevitably join if they live long enough. Ageism presents a huge body of experimental and other research related to ageism and considers the phenomenon that allows us to maintain negative stereotypes about our future selves. Physicians and other health care providers should be interested in this book because of its implications for encounters between elderly people and the younger people who care for them. It should also lead to a reexamination of the assumptions underlying the health care and social-service systems that have been developed to serve older people. After all, what vision of old age could have led to society's view of the traditional nursing home as a fitting and pleasant solution to the health problems of many very old people? Surely, it was not a vision of old age as a vibrant period or a vision of old people as important parts of their families and communities. Robert N. Butler, the first director of the National Institute on Aging and author of the 1975 Pulitzer Prize -winning Why Survive? Being Old in America (New York: Harper & Row), is widely credited with coining the term "ageism" in the late 1960s. He referred to it as a "new bigotry" in a 1969 article in The Gerontologist. In his current role as director of the International Longevity Center-USA, Butler is still laboring to combat ageism and to specify positive social roles for people in developed countries during the many decades they spend between ordinary retirement from the labor force and death. Meanwhile, in the more than 30 years since the term ageism was introduced, scholars have labored to understand the roots and effects of this prejudice. That research is the subject of this book. Ageism has three parts: part I reviews the origins and causes of ageism, part II identifies the effects of ageism, and part III considers possible future efforts to understand ageism and to reduce its prevalence and negative consequences. Many of the chapters read like review articles. Each of them is an extremely well referenced repository of information about a particular school of research on ageism. Many of the authors have been in the forefront of such research, and their summaries carry conviction. The chapters in part I tease out what makes ageism distinct from other forms of prejudice and perhaps more insidious and so more difficult to combat. Through these chapters, the following overview emerges. Age stereotypes are not all negative. The chapter by Cuddy and Fiske documents the "doddering but dear" view of seniors that prevails in the media; such stereotypes are all the more pernicious because of their subtlety and apparent balance of positive and negative qualities. The chapter by Levy and Banaji is based on a review of a body of careful research that often varies subliminal suggestions in order to investigate age-related stereotypes. Negative stereotypes about seniors will be all the harder to combat if, as this chapter suggests, they are implicitly or unconsciously held. Negative stereotypes about ageing are pervasive and develop rapidly even in very young children, as shown in the chapter by Montepare and Zebrowitz. Most compelling and chilling of all, ageism is linked to the fear of death, as shown in the chapter by Greenberg, Schimel, and Mertens. Finally, older people themselves may share ageist views of their contemporaries, of those who are slightly older than they, or even of their own worth. Chapters in part II discuss ageism that results in discrimination in the workplace, as well as exploring the various ways in which older people, who themselves may hold ageist views, may develop a positive self-image despite age-related stereotypes. Part III tries to articulate a more positive way of shaping society's views about aging and being old. In the last chapter, "Thirty Years of Ageism Research," Wilkinson and Ferraro emphasize the astonishingly broad, multidisciplinary array of contributors to this field, call for further research, and rightly emphasize the duty to disseminate research on ageism in an effort to combat the attitude. Although this book makes for heavy reading (requiring immersion in a new vocabulary) and, at times, depressing reading, it does effectively disseminate the findings of research on ageism. All of us, whatever our age, arguably need to be aware of the propensity to hold ageist attitudes (which, incidentally, are highly compatible with loving and positive attitudes toward elderly members of one's own family). The editors express wonder that so little concerted effort has been made to counteract ageism, either through advocacy on behalf of older people or through self-advocacy by older people. Ageism, in some way, has been condoned, as witnessed by shelves of noxious greeting cards that perpetuate stereotypes. Physicians, nurses, social workers, and many others in both practice and policy-development roles need to be aware of ageism. This book certainly provides an overwhelming amount of evidence of the phenomenon from social-science research; I recommend it as a cure for skeptics. Rosalie A. Kane, Ph.D.
Copyright © 2003 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved. The New England Journal of Medicine is a registered trademark of the MMS.

Review
"The strength of the volume lies in the authors' various interpretations of how ageism develops."
— Joan T. Erber, APA Review of Books

"This book certainly provides an overwhelming amount of evidence of the phenomenon from social science research ... a cure for skeptics."
— Rosalie A. Kane, Ph.D, New England Journal of Medicine

From the Inside Flap
"Timely and relevant, this book brings basic and applied scientific perspectives to examine ageism, its origins and its consequences."
--Mark Snyder, McKnight Presidential Chair in Psychology, University of Minnesota

"For researchers and policy makers seeking to understand the psychology of ageism, this book defines the state of the art. Broad-ranging in scope and featuring contributions from an impressive and diverse set of leading scholars, this is an indispensable volume for anyone interested in age-related prejudice."
--Galen V. Bodenhausen, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University

Customer Reviews

Useful Resource
This text was comprehensive and scholarly in its approach. Each chapter provides a very balanced view of research on ageism from definitions and developmental origins to effects on medical practice and portrayals in the media. The presentation of research findings integrated into each chapter was effective, interesting and current. A "must have" reference text for anyone interested in this topic.