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CHAPTER 2 Aging and Ageism: Cultural Influences distribute or Source: post, ©iStockphoto.com/CharlieAJA. Learningcopy, Objectives notBy the end of this chapter, you should be able to do the following: • Define ageism and identify positive and negative aging myths. • Explain the ways in which ageism impacts older adults and everyone. Do • Discuss three theoretical approaches that help explain ageism. • Identify the ways that ageism intersects with other personal characteristics. • List ways in which you can reduce ageism. 23 Copyright ©2018 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. 24 SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE WITH OLDER ADULTS INTRODUCTION Cultural beliefs shape social norms and values surrounding the aging process and the role of older people. These beliefs about aging are not static—they shift and change as society evolves. Like other social groups, such as women or African Americans, myths have emerged and, over time, have become part of the social fabric. These aging myths, which form the basis for stereotypes, create a limited social perspective on older people, and, as a consequence, older people are thought of and treated as if they are “all the same.” However, these myths are socially constructed, which means they can be challenged. Social work values stress the importance of social justice for those who are vulnerable and oppressed, and older adults are among those groups that can be at risk. Thus, it is impor- tant to confront the aging myths that we have been socialized to believe. Because these myths and stereotypes have a direct, negative impact on older people in terms of receiving services or opportunities within society, becoming more self-aware about how these ideas are limiting our conception of older people can facilitate change. In this chapter, we focus on ageism and how it impacts older adults. We begin with a definition of ageism and how our history and culture have contributeddistribute to the construc- tion and manifestation of ageism in contemporary society. We then explore positive and negative aging myths that perpetuate ageism and their impact on older adults. Ageism affects everyone, and we provide several theoretical explanationsor for ageism at the indi- vidual and societal levels as well as a discussion of the intersection of ageism and other personal characteristics, such as race and ethnicity. Finally, we present ways in which we can all help reduce ageism. post, Exercise Box 2.1: Doctor’s Office Anecdote Older people often get less treatment when they visit their healthcare provider, and their medi- cal concerns may be dismissed as aging-related. Consider your experiences in healthcare. Have you ever felt dismissed? Have you ever had an experience where your concerns were said to be age related? Ask an older personcopy, (or middle-aged person) in your life if they have ever had these experiences. Consider this anecdote about an older man who goes to see a doctor about knee pain: The doctor notsays to him, “You should expect this. You are getting older.” The man replies, “My other knee is just as old, but it does not hurt.” After thinking about this anecdote, is your perception of healthcare for older people altered? Source:Do Allen, J. (2016). Ageism as a risk factor for chronic disease. The Gerontological Society of America, 56(4), p. 611. Copyright ©2018 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. CHAPTER 2 Aging and Ageism: Cultural Influences 25 AGEISM The term ageism was first coined and defined in 1969 by psychiatrist Robert Butler as “prejudice by one age group toward other age groups” (Butler, 1969, p. 243). In later writings on the topic of ageism as experienced by older adults, he further defined it as “a process of systematic stereotyping of and discrimination against people because they are old” (Butler, 1975, p. 35). Thus, ageism is best described as a difference in one’s feelings, beliefs, or behaviors based on another person’s chronological age (Levy & Banaji, 2002). Although ageism can be experienced at any age, such as the young toward the old or the old toward the young, in this chapter, we refer to ageism in relation to the age discrimina- tion experienced by older adults. Ageism is often explained as if it is the same as other forms of prejudice, such as sex- ism or racism. But ageism is different. Generally speaking, one’s gender or race is part of a lifetime of lived experiences, including the effects of stereotyping, prejudice, and/or dis- crimination. But ageism occurs later in life and is thus unfamiliar when young (Cruikshank, 2009). Despite the unfamiliarity for young people in experiencing ageism, everyone will in fact encounter old age at some point, barring premature death;distribute therefore, ageism is unique when compared to other forms of prejudice and discrimination. Upon first meeting someone, there is a tendency to automatically categorize the individual along three social characteristics—age, sex, and race. orThis categorization process inevitabil- ity leads to the creation of stereotypes as our brains quickly process information about other people. When these categorizations are left unchecked, we can come to believe that anyone who belongs to a particular group is this way and thus not like me. For example, we may rec- ognize someone as “older” and then think, “I bet she/he doesn’t use modern technology.” This thought is followed by the notion that using new technologies is good (it is what I do!), and therefore, this person and I do not sharepost, anything in common. It is this process of “othering” that leads to ageism or prejudice against older people and can in turn lead to discrimination or the differential treatment of an individual based on their status as an older person. Ageist beliefs promote differential treatment of older people by individuals and organi- zations alike. “They legitimate the use of chronological age to mark out classes of people who are systematically denied resources and opportunities that others enjoy and, con- versely, who arecopy, granted concessions for services and benefits they are assumed to need” (Bytheway, 2005, p. 339). As a result, many people dread old age. Aging was once seen as something natural, but now it is both a social and personal problem. Aging has been described as the “neglected stepchild of the human life cycle” (Butler, 1975,not p. 1). In other words, socially, we do not think about what it is like to live as an older person. And once one reaches this life stage, we might assume that “it’s all over now.” But the fact is that older adulthood and how it is experienced is dependent on many factors, such as physical/mental health, personality, previous life experience, social support, finan- Docial status, access to medical care, and housing. Thus, older adulthood is experienced in different ways by different people depending on their circumstances, and just like other life stages, older adulthood has both joys and sorrows (Butler, 1975). Copyright ©2018 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. 26 SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE WITH OLDER ADULTS History of Ageism Attitudes toward older people have changed over time. In pre-modern times, the aver- age life expectancy was significantly lower than it is now. As a result, “old age” was not really an issue. Nonetheless, religion, culture, and ideology shaped social attitudes toward older adulthood (Johnson, 2005). In religious texts, such as the Bible and the Koran, older people are revered. They are wise, hold a position of authority, and are treated with dignity and respect. These works have held a prominent position across many societies and have thus influenced the ideas around the way that older people should be treated. This influence, in fact, has been so great that these notions were later reflected in the legal system, in particular the succession of wealth, which occurs down the paternal line. Therefore, older men enjoyed a position of status and power within the community in pre-modern times. Women, on the other hand, could only enjoy such elevation of position if they were married to a man of wealth and status given the patriarchal social structure. “Both survival and the opportunity to benefit from it were, and to a large extent still are, highly class related” (Johnson, 2005, p. 567). Today, we see this reflecteddistribute in the fact that those with money and power age better and later. In other words, when someone has the ability to access a multitude of resources, her/his living conditions, including hous- ing, food, medicalor care, and leisure time, are far superior and will allow them to “age” more slowly than their counterparts in lower socio- economic positions where life is much harder (Johnson, 2005). Contrary to popular beliefs that suggest post,that older people were revered in their com- munities, there was not one consistent pattern of caring for older people in past centuries. However, because religious beliefs shaped cul- tural values around family obligations, those who survived to reach older adulthood were likely to be cared for by their families. But the copy, challenge of taking care of a family member who was weak or frail would have been sig- nificant in a time period where working for food, shelter, and warmth consumed much of not their time. For those without money or land, their treatment as an older person was quite bad.

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