Elder Discrimination "Age Discrimination Occurs

Elder Discrimination "Age discrimination occurs when a decision is made on the basis of a person's age. In the workplace these are most often decisions about recruitment, promotion and dismissal… in societies that celebrate youthfulness above almost all else, it can be very difficult for even highly qualified professionals to find new positions after the age of 50.

For male senior executives, the fear of age discrimination has led to an increasing demand for cosmetic surgery, but for most older workers there appears little they can do to resist being swept aside in favor of young replacements…" (Tan, 2009). Aging brings with it physical problems, emotional issues, and it also brings bias and discrimination, as many older people have discovered -- and will discover.

This paper brings to light -- through the literature -- many of the kinds of discrimination that elder people are being subjected to as they move into life's so-called "golden years." Indeed, because of the discrimination and negative stereotypes that older people are subjected to, their golden years are becoming tarnished. This paper offers evidence to back up those assertions, and in some cases the authors of the peer-reviewed articles in the literature offer remedies and suggestions to put an end to prejudice against older people.

Discrimination in the Workplace Those millions of older adults that once thought retirement was going to be a joyous, wonderful experience, after all the years of hard work, raising a family and saving their earnings, are finding out that retirement is not an affordable option. But in fact, some 42 years after the U.S.

Congress passed the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967, there is indeed age discrimination in the workplace and so while senior citizens need to continue working to avoid living in poverty, they are also being discriminated against in the process. Authors Jessica Z. Rothenberg and Daniel S. Gardner have authored a peer-reviewed article on this issue, during which they examine the implications of this discrimination and offer potential solutions to end the bias.

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) conducted a study in 2009, asking 767 adults age 45 and older if they are going to postpone their retirement, and 22% said yes they would postpone retiring. The AARP also asked (among the 767 interviewed) those between 55 and 64 about retirement plans and 27% of that age group said they would keep working well into typical retirement age (Rothenberg, 2011, p. 10).

And given the terrible condition of the economy at this time, including a depressed housing market and bleak credit opportunities, not to forget the big hit that Americans' pensions have taken, and the foreclosures and layoffs -- it is clear that more and more older people are going to need to work to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. But in the meantime, when older people most need protection from age bias in the workplace, the legislation alluded to above has not been very effective.

First of all, the Act was authored and signed into law to "promote employment of older persons based on their ability rather than age," Rothenberg quotes from the law's narrative. The Act was also designed to "prohibit arbitrary age discrimination in employment" as well as help employers and employees "find ways of meeting problems arising from the impact of age on employment (Rothenberg, 10).

That said, the ADEA has not done what it was designed to do, and to back up that assertion Rothenberg points to the fact that an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 reports of discrimination based on age are filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC); in 2008, there were 24,500 reports of bias against senior citizens in the workplace, "an all time high," Rothenberg continues.

Clearly, employers are resisting hiring older people, but why? Rothenberg points to a meta-analysis (Kite, Stockdale, Whitley Jr., & Johnson) that documents the fact that there is widespread bias against older people per se. The bias is based on negative attitudes against "…elders' competence, attractiveness, and behavioral intentions" (Rothenberg, 11). Moreover, there are what Rothenberg calls "pernicious stereotypes" that haunt older workers; the older worker typically is seen as "senile, slow, unproductive, frail, and unable to 'learn new tricks'" and those unfair stereotypes are "widespread and intractable" (Rothenberg, 11).

Hiring an older person is not in the cards for many employers because they believe older workers are "difficult to train, resistant to change, and less flexible and adaptable" than a younger worker (Rothenberg, 11). Making maters worse for the typical older worker, the U.S. Supreme Court has not backed up the ADEA in favor of older people, and in fact has generally sided with employers when cases come before the High Court. In Smith v.

City of Jackson, Mississippi, a case that came before the Court in 2005, the Justices ruled against the plaintiff, an older worker who believed he had been discriminated against because of his age. Justice Stevens wrote the opinion for the High Court and explained that "…certain employment criteria that are routinely used may be reasonable despite their adverse impact on older workers as a group" (Rothenberg, 21). The criteria that Stevens alluded to were basically that a younger worker was more appropriate for a specific job in that case.

Rothenberg and Gardner believe that employers are discouraged from hiring older workers due to the "high costs" to employers "that increase as workers grow older." Hence, the authors believe that if the U.S. had a "comprehensive single-payer health care system" that removed the responsibility from the employer, and that would remove some of the bias against hiring older people. However, when the Obama Administration attempted to get legislation passed with a single-payer component, Congress resisted.

Rothenberg and Gardner also suggest new legislation to protect older people who want to and need to work, and the EEOC needs to "develop mechanisms to better monitor business employment practices," they conclude (24). Technology in the Workplace and Older People Author Neil Charness explains that there are some justifications for employers to be reticent to hire older people, particularly in situations where a lot of sophisticated technology is employed, and the technologies are being upgraded often. "For older workers, technology has both advantages and drawbacks," Charness explains (Charness, 2006, p. 26).

For one, the good news is because of automation the need for "demanding physical labor" has been greatly diminished, hence older people with reduced physical skills have something of an advantage. Also, because of the development of sensor systems the need for workers to rely solely on their visual, aural, and other capacities "also diminish over time" (Charness, 26). The bad news for older workers is that new technologies demand "significant instruction and training" and that poses serious challenges for older workers.

Linking older workers with current and future technologies is a "central concern" of the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE), Charness goes on. Clearly the use of highly advanced technological systems depend largely upon "the extent to which the system demands can be met by the user's capabilities" (Charness, 27). In that context, and given the "normative" changes with the aging process (reduction in sensory, perceptual, psychomotor and cognitive capabilities) the older workers are clearly at a disadvantage "relative to their younger counterparts" (Charness, 27).

The question then becomes, is it fair for an employer to hire an alert, 20-something job candidate with vast experience in digital technologies, and turn down the application of a 55-year-old man with vast management experience but limited work with new technologies? The answer for many employers would be a resounding "yes," but for the older applicant who swears he is a quick learner, he may be justified in believing he was discriminated against based on his age.

Discrimination in the Justice System The workplace isn't the only setting where older people are discriminated against.

According to a peer-reviewed article in the journal Behavioral Sciences and the Law, research reveals discrimination against older people: a) that is associated with jurors that don't trust older people to make fair judgments; b) when it comes to good healthcare in prisons for elders' health problems; and c) when very old people are on death row, there are concerns from fair-minded individuals in the community about "…the constitutionality of executing frail elders" (Gaydon, et al., 2007).

The first item discussed by Gaydon is jury duty and the veracity of testimony by older people. The court system runs up against a dilemma when an older person is a potential witness, because many people (we're relating to jurors here) "have stereotypes of older people as unbelievable" (679). Specifically, jurors may believe that older peoples' memories are poor because the belief is that older people are all senile. That prejudice actually is based to some degree on true findings in the literature, Gaydon points out (679).

For example, "several studies have shown that many older people's memories really are often less reliable than younger witnesses" (679). Moreover, older persons perform less accurately on the witness stand, the authors continue. One particular study of 51 senior citizens and 62 college students reflected the fact that the older people "forgot more details and were more easily swayed by suggestions from the people administering the test, as compared with college students" (Gaydon, 679). These seniors were not suffering from Alzheimer's or any other malady; they just didn't have a great recollection of facts.

That said, when asked "very specific, non-leading questions," in many cases older people are "just as likely to correctly identify a suspect as a younger adult when properly questioned" (Gaydon, 679). Gaydon's second point, the most germane to this discussion, relates to older people as victims in the criminal justice system. This reveals that jurors aren't the only ones to discriminate against older witnesses; in fact police officers often take the position that older people "are less reliable and less thorough at giving statements than young adults" (681).

Police officers also believe that older people are "less likely to be victimized than younger people"; and in that particular case, it can lead to serious discrimination because police (theoretically) may not take the alleged crime as seriously as they would if the victim were younger, Gaydon offers (681). Still on the subject of ageism and the American legal system, author Howard C. Eglit has a different perspective on seniors and the legal system's tendency to be bias against seniors.

While Eglit agrees that ageism directed toward the elderly "often is pernicious" (Eglit, 2005, p. 60). Eglit sees that examples of negative imagery, "pejorative terminology, and uninformed hurtful stereotypical thinking…abound" (60). And so Eglit is on board with the idea that ageism is evil and unfair.

But he offers a "nuanced assessment" and three "foundational caveats": a) age bias can be nothing but a "minor note" in a case involving breach of contract, however, age becomes far more prominent when an adult is accused of "sexually molesting a minor"; b) the weight of age bias varies dramatically with the "target of that bias"; to wit, an elderly judge may well get more respect from the jurors over whom she presides "than an elderly witness would be accorded"; and c) the weight of age bias and discrimination vary not just with the age of the target of the bias, but also with the age of the "ageist"; to wit, a juror that is 25 years old may "unwarrantedly discredit the eye-witness testimony of a 75-year-old witness simply because of that witness's age" but at the same time that juror may accept the testimony of a 30-year-old who testifies to the same facts as the 75-year-old" (Eglit, 60).

In summary, Eglit asserts that ageism in the legal system is "a complicated matter" and so researchers should be cautious about using "the notion of ageism unadorned" because that approach is unfair to the bigger picture, and too simplistic as well. Stereotypes Hurt Older People The stereotypes mentioned by Rothenberg, Eglit and Gardner are to be found in much of the literature that relates to older people and discrimination.

An article in Educational Gerontology zeros in on stereotypes on aging, which the authors believe is one solid reason why there is so much prejudice against older people. In fact, due to the many negative stereotypes society perpetuates in the private and the public arena, many seniors are subjected to a "double whammy" (Horton, 2007, p. 1021). That double whammy exists because: a) negative stereotypes influence the way older people are treated by society; and b) negative stereotypes affect how older people view themselves (Horton, 1021).

Not all stereotypes about older people however are blatantly unfair or entirely out of the blue. The fact that many members of the elder population tend to avoid exercise unfortunately lends credence to the health-related stereotype that they aren't physically healthy enough to perform many tasks that employers expect of employees.

For example, on page 1022 Horton points out that research conducted by the Heart and Stroke foundation of Canada shows "52% of baby boomers are sedentary" and 30% of baby boomers "are obese." This fact flies in the face of the data from seniors -- 98% of people over 50 years of age believe "exercise is important to staying health" (Horton, 1022). Those facts having been reported, it is also true that "psychosocial variables contribute to…" the lack of physical activity on the part of older people.

Because seniors are "routinely subjected to negative stereotypes regarding their physical and cognitive abilities," the authors continue, they tend to "buy into these negative depictions of aging" (1023). In fact, surveys of older adults in North America (including the U.S. And Canada) show that elder citizens view members of their own age group as "…lower in status, less likeable, unhappier, more dependent, and less goal oriented than younger adults" (Horton, 1023).

Facts from bona fide research bear out the truth about ageism and bias: a) in a recent survey, 84% of Americans and 91% of Canadians reported "at least one incident of ageism; b) more than 50% of both Canadians and Americans reported multiple incidents of age discrimination; and c) when elementary school children were shown pictures of a man at "four distinct stages of life" two thirds of the children considered the man in the fourth stage (his elderly years) to be "…helpless, incapable of caring for himself, and generally passive" (Horton, 1024).

When seniors are exposed to negative stereotypes -- for example, frequently reminded regarding their expected memory losses and lapses -- that can result in what Horton describes as "disidentification" (1029). Essentially, disidentification serves as a protective function, that is, because an older person is expected to perform poorly, when he or she does perform poorly it is not a threat to "self-esteem" (Horton, 1029).

The doubly sad part of that scenario is that once an older person disidentifies with his or her place in society, a serious decrease in motivation can take place. And moreover, seniors that remove "cognitive and physical abilities as a basis for self-evaluation because they no longer care" can and does lead to a "downward spiral" for that person (Horton, 1029).

Attitudes Toward Aging -- Prejudice and Stereotypes What factors go into attitudes relating to how people perceive and understand aging? The authors of an article in Educational Gerontology explain that notwithstanding the belief that later adulthood can be a "…healthy, productive, and satisfying time of life, ageism or prejudice and discrimination against older adults and a fear of the aging process, continues to be a widespread phenomena" (McConatha, 2004, p. 169).

With that in mind, the authors of this piece studied and compared attitudes and anxieties toward ageing in the United States, Germany, Finland and Turkey. Women as a general rule tend to more often be seen victims of "negative biases associated with age," McConatha explains (171). Ironically, although women live longer than men, they are considered to be "old" at a younger age than men, and as they grow up and mature women are socialized to "place more value on their appearance than men" (McConatha, 171).

Hence, older women experience more anxiety about their aging bodies and that source of anxiety can result in "shame…" and psychological issues linked to that shame, McConatha continues. In Germany and in the U.S., women have more concerns about aging than men do; in Turkey as well, older males were seen to have "a more positive self-image than did Turkish females" (McConatha, 172).

The authors' research reveals that older women in Finland and Turkey "appeared to be less optimistic about getting older" and moreover, women in both nations reported "lower life expectancies than actual life expectancies" (173). Also, women in both Finland and Turkey appear to be "…less optimistic about getting older," McConatha continues. Meanwhile the research project launched by the authors of this piece entailed questionnaires (which included a 20-item "Anxiety about Aging Scale") to 334 men and women (79 women and 95 men in Turkey; and 83 women and 77 men in the U.S.).

And while the researchers believed at the outset of the study that Turkish participants would have "fewer concerns about the aging process" -- in part because Turkey is seen as a collectivist society and the U.S. is the most individualist society in the world -- the researchers were surprised to learn that Turkish participants were "psychologically more concerned about aging" (McConatha, 177).

The bottom line in this research is that because women are subjected to biases "associated with ageism" than men, women in Turkey, the U.S., and Germany, suffer from a "diminished self-image" as they grow older while men, in Turkey and the U.S., do not suffer the same prejudice and discrimination (McConatha, 179). Men tend to be seen as "gaining prestige with age" and hence they are not discriminated against as much as women are. The research into the views of 334 men and women in Turkey and the U.S.

reveals what many other research projects have concluded: "…ageism is a widespread cultural phenomenon," and the discrimination that is spawned by ageism extends to "…the arenas of employment, health care, lifelong learning, and social services" internationally (McConatha, 180). Past Racist-based Discrimination Protects Older Black Folks Today One particular group of older Americans has been subjected to far more brutal discrimination than job bias or negative social stereotypes.

This group went through attacks and deep social prejudice based on the color of their skin; African-Americans up in years recall very vividly the impact of segregation and racism. During the 1900s there were "widespread lynchings" of black men, and this promoted terrible fears in the hearts of this ethnic group, and it "reinforced the belief that African-Americans were inferior to whites" (Liberato, et al., 2008, p. 231). However these events from the.