Difference between revisions of "Ageism"

Latest revision as of 09:01, May 16, 2024

Age discrimination or Ageism is discrimination, mistreatment and prejudice against people because of their age.^[1] This is a very typical (and so hypocritical) characteristic of "progressive" liberals, feminists, and Marxists and Leftists in general but also so-called self-proclaiming (fake) "conservatives", possibly influenced in some way by the aforementioned former ones.^[2][3]

Effects

Ageism commonly refers towards negative discriminatory practices, regardless of the age towards which it is applied. The following terms are subsidiary forms of ageism:

• Adultism is a predisposition towards adults, which is seen as biased against children, youth, and all young people who aren't addressed or viewed as adults.^[4]
• Jeunism is the tendency to prefer young people over older people. This includes political candidacies, commercial functions, and cultural settings where the supposed greater vitality and/or physical beauty of youth is more appreciated than the supposed greater moral and/or intellectual rigor of adulthood.
• Adultcentricism is the "exaggerated egocentrism of adults".^[5]
• Adultocracy is the social convention which defines "maturity" and "immaturity," placing adults in a dominant position over young people, both theoretically and practically.^[6]
• Gerontocracy is a form of oligarchical rule in which an entity is ruled by leaders who are significantly older than most of the adult population.
• Chronocentrism is primarily the belief that a certain state of humanity is superior to all previous and/or former times.

Ageism is said to lead towards the development of fears towards age groups, particularly:

• Pedophobia, the fear of infants and children.
• Ephebiphobia, the fear of youth, adolescents and young adults.^[7]
• Gerontophobia, the fear of elderly people.^[8]

Discrimination

Ageism also manifests itself outside institutional-health and media channels, reverberating in social relations and relationships, where there is overt or more veiled discrimination against the elderly or older person which may be motivated by economic, social or commercial reasons. Age discrimination is the result of actions taken to deny or limit opportunities to people on the basis of age, a social construct. It usually involves actions taken as a result of a person's ageist beliefs and attitudes. Age discrimination occurs at both personal and institutional levels, often even in modern Western mainstream journalism and entertainment in the form of propaganda and dis/misinformation, especially towards/against males.^{[9][10][11][12]} Age discrimination is the result of actions taken to deny or limit opportunities to people based on age. These are usually actions taken as a result of one's ageist beliefs and attitudes. Age discrimination occurs on both a personal and institutional level. On a personal level, an older person may be told that he is too old to engage in certain physical activities, like an informal game of basketball between friends and family. Or may be even told (most common in today's "progressive" liberal-globalist Western society) to be too old to date or be just sexually attracted to much younger people and to have a much younger partner.^{[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]}

Another case is calling a middle-aged or barely middle-aged person "old" or "elderly", or even calling an adult under 45 or even under 40 "middle-aged" or "old".

The term "Dirty Old Man" has assumed, specifically in the "progressive" liberal-globalist West, ageist and misandrist connotations, and it is used with bias and double standards and for hateful and toxic propaganda purposes, even against men who aren't to be considered "old".^[24][25][26]

There's also a relatively recent theory supposedly originated in the West called "Half your age plus seven rule" recognized as bigoted and ageist and without actual valid basis (although it is unsurprisingly supported by the hypocritical "woke" Left that is at the same time supporter of actual pedophilia and grooming of little children in real life),^{[27][28][29][30][31]} a "rule of thumb" to determine whether an age difference is "socially acceptable" that holds that a person should never date someone whose age is less than half their own plus seven years. According to this "rule", a 28-year-old would date no one younger than 21 (half of 28, plus 7) and a 50-year-old would date no one younger than 32 (half of 50, plus 7).

Regarding the younger people, instead, calling mid-late adolescents or young adults "barely legal", "children" or "kids" (not counted when the latter two terms are referred to their way of behaving or used as a form of affection and/or confidence, or as the other way to say "son(s)" or "daughter(s)"), despite their clear mental and physical maturity, is a form of ageism and ageist discrimination and disrespect.

Discrimination against younger workers

Age discrimination, at least when it affects younger workers, can result in unequal pay for equal work. Age discrimination in wages is often enshrined in law. For example, in both the United States^[32] and the United Kingdom^[33] minimum wage laws allow for employers to pay lower wages to young workers. Many state and local minimum wage laws mirror such an age-based tiered minimum wage. Outside of the law, older workers, on average, make more than younger workers do. Firms may be afraid to offer older workers lower wages than younger workers.

Labor regulations also limit the age at which someone is allowed to work and how many hours and under what conditions they may work. In the United States you must generally be 14 to seek a job, and face additional restrictions on your work until 16.^[34] Many companies refuse to hire workers under 18.

Discrimination against older workers

According to an ICM poll for Age Concern, nearly one third of people know someone who has been a victim of age discrimination at work. Another one in ten people said that they have experienced discrimination by the NHS or health insurance companies, or been turned down for financial products because of their age. Gordon Lishman, Director General of Age Concern England, said: 'Comprehensive legislation is needed now, not just to cover the workplace but many other sectors of life.'

While older workers benefit from higher wages than younger workers they face barriers in promotions and hiring. They may also encourage early retirement or layoff disproportionately older/more experienced workers.

Age discrimination in hiring has been shown to exist in the United States. Joanna Lahey, Economics professor at Texas A&M, found that firms are more than 40% more likely to interview a younger job applicant than an older job applicant.^[35]

In a survey for the University of Kent, England, 29% of respondents stated that they had suffered from age discrimination. This is a higher proportion than for gender or race discrimination. Dominic Abrams, Social Psychology professor at the university, concluded that ageism is the most pervasive form of prejudice experienced in the UK population.^[36]

References