I recently came across and article that takes a deeper look at the definition of ageism.[i] It is very interesting and will help those of you who are following this part of the blog to understand more about the topic. I will copy several outstanding paragraphs and then leave it up to you if you wish to find the original article through your research database.
“The concept includes the classic social psychological components in the form of; 1) cognitive (stereotypes), 2) affective (prejudice), 3) and behavioral components (discrimination), in other words, how we on the basis of the chronological age or age categorization mistakenly; 1) think of, 2) feel for, 3) and act on the aging human being. Furthermore, ageism can operate both consciously (explicitly) and unconsciously (implicitly) and it can manifest itself on three different levels; the individual (micro-level), in social networks (meso-level) and on institutional and cultural level (macro-level).”
Conclusion
“Presently the research on ageism is marked by numerous, more or less diffuse, definitions of the concept of ageism. Many studies investigate both the causes and consequences of ageism without a clear definition of the phenomenon. As a consequence the area is characterized by diverging research results, which are hard to re-test and to compare. It is therefore difficult to obtain a framework on ageism.”
I strongly advise you to go to the article upon which this blog entry is based. Think this will give us all an opportunity to investigate our own understanding of the ageism process and develop ways to reduce it.
[i] Iverson, Thaomas Nicolaj; Larsen, Lars; Solem, Per Erik (2009). Conceptual Analysis of Ageism, Nordic Psychology, Vol 61(3,) p. 4-22.
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