AGEISM

WHAT IS AGEISM?  Ageism is  a fairly recent coinage on the analogy of ‘racism’ and ‘sexism.’ The definition of ageism – treating a person less favorably than others because of his or her chronological age – gives an indication of its meaning, but in fact its implications are more complex than this approximate definition suggests. The term refers only to wrongful or unjustifiable adverse discrimination on the grounds of age.  There are many ways to categorize ageism. Terms that describe where ageism takes place include: institutional ageism, which occurs when an institution perpetuates ageism through its actions and policies interpersonal ageism, which occurs in social interactions internalized ageism, which is when a person internalizes ageist beliefs and applies them to themselves Ageism can also vary according to a situation. For example, hostile ageism involves someone having openly aggressive beliefs about age, such as that teenagers are violent or dangerous. By contr...