Reducing the Divide between Young and Old

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Recommended: Age discrimination writing

The area of diversity that we will look at here is Ageism. First we will discuss some of the more important barriers that are present because of age. We will discuss how this group is affected by discrimination, prejudices, and stereotypes and some of the sources that perpetuate it. Finally we’ll attempt to show some strategies that both young and old can use to promote communication and understanding to hopefully reduce the divide between the young and old.

In ancient times the old we’re valued as teachers and mentors. They had the knowledge and experience that the younger population didn’t. But as the number of older persons increased, they were perceived as burdens to their families and to society in general. We now live in a modern age, and have what we would consider a civilized society. We are far from the barbaric tribes that would abandon the old and feeble in the wilderness to die alone. There is still however a large number of our older population that is discriminated against daily. In 1969 Robert Butler defined ageism as s “systematic stereotyping of and prejudices against people because they are old”. There is a cost associated with ageism. Like the prejudices against women (sexism) and race (racism), the impact of ageism is and will be considerable. Older people can and do play a major role in our social and economic development, but we fail to recognize their potential and deny them a significant role in our cultural life (Butler). Ageism theory has typically focused on the physical and mental changes in aging and the perceptions of uselessness and a diminished status that foster prejudices against elders (North, Fiske). In 1974, Bernice Neugarten was the first to identify subtypes of older people. She identified t...

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Friedan, B. (1993). The fountain of age. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Haboush, A., Warren, C., & Benuto, L. (2012). Beauty, Ethnicity, and Age: Does Internalization of Mainstream Media Ideals Influence Attitudes Towards Older Adults?. Sex Roles, 66(9/10), 668-676. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-0102-6

Kersten, D. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/jobcenter/workplace/communication/2002-11-15-communication-gap_x.htm
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Neugarten, B. L. (1970). The Old and the Young in Modern Societies. American Behavioral Scientist, 14(1), 13
North, M. S., & Fiske, S. T. (2013). Subtyping Ageism: Policy Issues in Succession and Consumption. Social Issues & Policy Review, 7(1), 36-57. doi:10.1111/j.1751-2409.2012.01042.x

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