Rethinking Ageism: Age and Ageing in an Ageist World

Older adults may be the world's fastest growing demographic. Yet they remain vulnerable to biases and barriers that would be intolerable if directed at others. Such an indictment puts the onus on deconstructing the idea of ageism in terms of what it means ("a riddle"), how it works ("a mystery"), why it persists ("an enigma"), and what can be done about it ("a puzzle"). Reference to ageism must go beyond the idea of a “bug” in the system. Rather, ageism is the system, the default reality of an ageist society designed by, for, and about the young and able-bodied. Ageism also intersects with other forms of identity and inequality such as gender and race to amplify the downside of getting older and being old. Initiatives for advancing a rights-based, age-inclusive society must focus on calling out ageism as a precondition for calling in a national reset.

Table of Contents:
Preface: Ageism Matters PART 1: Ageism: The Idea 1 Ageism in the Pandemic Age: A Fraught Reality  1 Introduction: The Pandemic of Ageism  2 Moving the Yardsticks?  3 Argument, Organization, and Contribution 2 Surveying Ageism: Global Perspectives, Public Perceptions  1 Introduction: “You Are a Waste of Space”  2 Surveying the Age-Scape: “Ageism Never Grows Old”  3 Growing Older and Being Old: Diverse Narratives, Mixed Messages 3 Conceptualizing Ageism: A Riddle, a Mystery, an Enigma  1 Introduction: Framing the Puzzle  2 Defining Ageism  3 Constituents of Ageism: Prejudice, Stereotypes, Discrimination  4 Problematizing the Puzzle of Ageism 4 Intersectionalities of Age: Compounding Ageism  1 Introduction: Ageism in Complexity  2 Intersectionality as Lens  3 Gender X Age/Ageing: A Gendered Ageism  4 A Racialized Ageism/Ageing  5 Indigeneity and Ageism  6 Class, Status, and Ageism  7 Homophobia and Ageism PART 2: Ageism in Action 5 Expressing Ageism: Individual, Institutional, Societal  1 Introduction: Different Levels, Multiple Sources, Diverse Manifestations  2 Individual Ageisms  3 Institutional Ageism: Structural and Systemic  4 Societal Ageism  5 “Out There” or “In Here”: Ageisms in Canada or an Ageist Canada? 6 Institutional Ageism: Workplace and Health Care  1 Introduction: “More Than a Glitch”  2 Workplace Ageism: Navigating an Ageist Work World  3 Ageism in Healthcare  4 Long-Term Care Homes as Total Ageist Institutions 7 Ageist Media, Media Ageism  1 Introduction: Media Misrepresentations  2 Misrepresenting Minorities  3 Ageism in the Media: Media Representations of Age and Ageing  4 Deconstructing Media Frames of the Elderly PART 3: Beyond Ageism 8 Challenging Ageism: Rethinking Anti-Ageism  1 Introduction: Beyond Ageism  2 Tallying the Toll  3 Anti-Ageism Interventions: Different Levels, Different Outcomes  4 Toward an Inclusive Anti-Ageism Approach: Changing the Culture 9 Towards an Age-Inclusive Canada: The Reset  1 Introduction: Beyond Ageism?  2 Changing the Lens  3 Shifting the Discourses  4 A Rights-Based, Age-Inclusive Society: A Re-imagining Index