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Ageism in the United States

Many countries of the world honor their elderly citizens and hold them up as paragons of another time. Other countries look down upon the elderly and push them to the margins of society, sometimes quite literally. In the United States, elderly citizens as a group are very widely marginalized by the larger population. Many are put in retirement homes are pushed off to hospitals. Quite a few are forced out of their homes and made to exist on pension or Social Security and in some cases are not able to get by. Most senior citizens are negatively stereotyped as extremely weak and feeble. There are also positives stereotypes of the elderly which allow them to have more freedom of discourse and behavior which people younger than them are not afforded. There are many potential reasons behind this national tendency to possess biases against elderly people among them are the stereotypes the society has against this group, the supposed benefits that the elderly have over other members of society, and the psychological effect that the presence of elderly people has on the majority population.

According to stereotypes, all elderly people are bad drivers who smell badly, eat dinner well before sunset and watch Matlock reruns or listen to Paul Harvey on their radios. Senior citizens can also be given positive stereotypical characteristics. Either they are portrayed as weak and ineffective or the elderly are depicted in the opposite extreme: as healthy, eccentric individuals who are using the twilight years to behave in risky fashions and who deliver one-liners at the drop of a hat. Betty White is a particularly prevalent example of this type of elderly American. This is an example of what F.L. Cook describes as "positive ageism" (292). Cook goes on to state why either of these types of depictions is dangerous. "We continue to measure attitudes and media portrayals about 'the elderly' as if 'the elderly' or 'older persons' or 'people over 65' were homogeneous and represent some unitary construct" (292). Stereotypes are overgeneralizations attributed to a group and even the positive stereotypes can be harmful. In the case of the elderly, the perceptions of the group are either that they are feeble and should be put in nursing homes or that they are completely healthy and require no aid. Citizens who do not fit into one or the other of these molds would seem unnatural rather than honest. Although there may be elderly people who are feeble and there may be elderly people who are energetic, neither of these descriptions encompasses the completeness of a whole human being, let alone all members of this age group.

The United States is currently undergoing a period of economic crisis. At times like these, people look for a scapegoat, someone on whom all of their problems can be blamed. At present there is also an inclination to distrust the United States government and to demand financial equity for all citizens, as is exemplified by the current Occupy movement. When so many people are out of work and are financially unstable, there is a groundswell of citizens who advocate cuts to financial aid programs to populations, such as the elderly of the nation (Palmore 103). Programs like social security provide funds to elderly people of the country and there are some who question why these people should be entitled to such funds just because they have reached a certain age. This becomes a greater issue with the predominance of figures like the aforementioned Betty White who is illustrating that a person passed the age of ninety can be a fully functioning member of the citizenry. If she can work, why can't all elderly people and why should the American taxpayers be held responsible for those that cannot, seems to be the type of question that comes up in such scenarios.

Thirdly, researcher Susan Letvak poses in the article "Myths and Realities of Ageism and Nursing" that one of the reasons that people mistreat their elders is because of a fear of their own mortality. She says that "Ageism is a form of oppression that not only limits people who are objects of that oppression, but also influences all people, regardless of age, who have ageist attitudes" (1). When forced to encounter aged people on a daily basis, a person cannot help but realize that they will one day also be old and potentially enfeebled. If that group that causes fear is pushed to the margins, then there is less likelihood for constant interaction and the fear can be allowed to move to the margins as well (1). This is similar to the scapegoat theory of ageism in that there is an inherent anger or jealousy of the group that is being marginalized. People who have ageist attitudes will inevitably pass those beliefs on not only to their own progeny but will encourage other people in their community to have their same value system. Thus ageism, becomes a vicious cycle of misplaced fear and anger which some people may not even be aware that they posses.