Prejudice And Discrimination: Ageism
Running Head: AGEISM
Prejudice and Discrimination: Ageism
R.G.
ITT-Tech
SP3450 Social Psychology
S. Rogers
2/27/14
Prejudice and Discrimination: Ageism
Ageism to me is a very interesting topic, but more than interesting it is a current and relevant source of information that includes prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination, all targeting older persons. Reviews of the age-based attitude research do indicate that as compared with young people, older persons are evaluated more negatively. On the implicit level of evaluation, preferences for young as compared with old persons are found as well. Actually, in recent years there has been a focus of interest on indirect measures of attitudes, in general, …show more content…
and prejudice, in particular, including ageism (Paula Couto, & Wentura, 2012). A Study shows that the level of difficulty that someone faces when trying to sue for age discrimination, especially for someone that has reached age 45 plus years is amazingly high (Diamond, 2013). Even when a person may think that he or she has a good case the reality is that it could be a very expensive process and the person is not just investing money but also time.
When we combine age discrimination with gender discrimination, the results could affect women over the age of 50, more than those between 35 and 50 with the same amount of experience.
“When companies say that experience is a hindrance, they often mean age is a hindrance.” (Lahey 2006). Experience can legitimately be a negative for an employer when the applicant is overqualified. In my case being an older man over 40 years old and the thought that just by being older all the years of hard work at school trying to get a degree could be jeopardized by my age it’s a scary feeling. Older job seekers should consider omitting their age and or graduation dates, to appear as young as possible, to flaunt any technology experience and to state that they embrace change in order to combat prejudice (Ellen, 2012). Women spend a significant amount of time and money in products designed to help them appear younger specially when their perceived to lose their beauty as they …show more content…
age.
There is another factor that combined with age discrimination creates an entirely different issue at the time to apply for a job, and that is obesity.
Age and obesity discrimination is the fastest growing type of discrimination in the workforce. The federal government established The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 which protected workers 40- years-old and older from being discriminated against based on age. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigates claims of workplace age discrimination in workers 40-years-old and older. In 2008 there were 24,582 complaints of age bias reported to the EEOC (Heather, Kevin, & Jitendra, 2013). The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment. Obese people are stereotyped and often discriminated against in the workplace, although antidiscrimination laws for obese people are beginning to come into existence. Employers assume that an overweight employee could potentially have health problems costing the company a considerable amount of money in Health Insurance claims and man hours lost. More people worldwide now die from being overweight and obese than from being underweight. A report states that 1.6 billion overweight or obese people are in the world and 2.5 million deaths are attributable to obesity. Obesity costs over 39 million lost workdays
as well as 63 million trips to the doctors (World Health Organization, 2009).
A recession could particularly be hard on older employees. They seem to have been disproportionately targeted in layoffs, and they have a much harder time finding new jobs. Some employers with many employees over the age of 40 feel the need to lower expenses and for that reason they choose to get rid of the personnel that get paid the most (Ballman, 2011).
Here are some of the top signs that tell you that you are being discriminated because of your age:
Biased comments
These are the most obvious signs, and thus the rarest. If your boss calls you "grandma" or "old man," or out of nowhere you start getting inquiries about your retirement plans, or say that your best days are behind you, document it. This could be direct evidence of discrimination.
Comparisons
You notice how younger employees are treated differently under the same circumstances, or if older people were targeted for layoffs, start writing down their names, along with the names of younger, less-qualified employees who were kept on.
Disparate discipline
When you are being disciplined for something that younger employees do without consequences, that could be a sign that they might be building a case against you due to your age.
Promotions
When a younger less qualified employee gets chosen for promotion, and you know that you 're more qualified than him it may well be due to your age.
Favoritism
If younger employees are given the best leads, assignments and equipment, this could be a sign of age discrimination if older employees are excluded from key meetings, or if the boss only socializes with younger employees, then these too may be signs of age-based discrimination.
References:
Ballman, D. ( 2011, May 17). Nine signs of age discrimination. Retrieved from http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/05/17/top-signs-of-age-discrimination/
Diamond, D. (2013, July 05). Why the 'real ' unemployment rate is higher than you think. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2013/07/05/why-the-real-unemployment-rate-is-higher-than-you-think/
Ellen , W. (2011, Sep 15). When age and gender works against your job search . http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2011/09/15/when-age-and-gender-work-againstyour-job-search/ Heather, S., Kevin, B., & Jitendra, M. (2013). Discrimination in the Workplace. Advances in Management, 6(2), 3-9.
Paula Couto, M., & Wentura, D. (2012). Automatically activated facets of ageism: Masked evaluative priming allows for a differentiation of age-related prejudice. European Journal of Social Psychology, 42(7), 852-863. doi:10.1002/ejsp.1912
World Health Organization. ( 2013, March). Obesity & Overweight. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/
Prejudice and Discrimination: Ageism
R.G.
ITT-Tech
SP3450 Social Psychology
S. Rogers
2/27/14
Prejudice and Discrimination: Ageism
Ageism to me is a very interesting topic, but more than interesting it is a current and relevant source of information that includes prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination, all targeting older persons. Reviews of the age-based attitude research do indicate that as compared with young people, older persons are evaluated more negatively. On the implicit level of evaluation, preferences for young as compared with old persons are found as well. Actually, in recent years there has been a focus of interest on indirect measures of attitudes, in general, …show more content…
and prejudice, in particular, including ageism (Paula Couto, & Wentura, 2012). A Study shows that the level of difficulty that someone faces when trying to sue for age discrimination, especially for someone that has reached age 45 plus years is amazingly high (Diamond, 2013). Even when a person may think that he or she has a good case the reality is that it could be a very expensive process and the person is not just investing money but also time.
When we combine age discrimination with gender discrimination, the results could affect women over the age of 50, more than those between 35 and 50 with the same amount of experience.
“When companies say that experience is a hindrance, they often mean age is a hindrance.” (Lahey 2006). Experience can legitimately be a negative for an employer when the applicant is overqualified. In my case being an older man over 40 years old and the thought that just by being older all the years of hard work at school trying to get a degree could be jeopardized by my age it’s a scary feeling. Older job seekers should consider omitting their age and or graduation dates, to appear as young as possible, to flaunt any technology experience and to state that they embrace change in order to combat prejudice (Ellen, 2012). Women spend a significant amount of time and money in products designed to help them appear younger specially when their perceived to lose their beauty as they …show more content…
age.
There is another factor that combined with age discrimination creates an entirely different issue at the time to apply for a job, and that is obesity.
Age and obesity discrimination is the fastest growing type of discrimination in the workforce. The federal government established The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 which protected workers 40- years-old and older from being discriminated against based on age. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigates claims of workplace age discrimination in workers 40-years-old and older. In 2008 there were 24,582 complaints of age bias reported to the EEOC (Heather, Kevin, & Jitendra, 2013). The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment. Obese people are stereotyped and often discriminated against in the workplace, although antidiscrimination laws for obese people are beginning to come into existence. Employers assume that an overweight employee could potentially have health problems costing the company a considerable amount of money in Health Insurance claims and man hours lost. More people worldwide now die from being overweight and obese than from being underweight. A report states that 1.6 billion overweight or obese people are in the world and 2.5 million deaths are attributable to obesity. Obesity costs over 39 million lost workdays
as well as 63 million trips to the doctors (World Health Organization, 2009).
A recession could particularly be hard on older employees. They seem to have been disproportionately targeted in layoffs, and they have a much harder time finding new jobs. Some employers with many employees over the age of 40 feel the need to lower expenses and for that reason they choose to get rid of the personnel that get paid the most (Ballman, 2011).
Here are some of the top signs that tell you that you are being discriminated because of your age:
Biased comments
These are the most obvious signs, and thus the rarest. If your boss calls you "grandma" or "old man," or out of nowhere you start getting inquiries about your retirement plans, or say that your best days are behind you, document it. This could be direct evidence of discrimination.
Comparisons
You notice how younger employees are treated differently under the same circumstances, or if older people were targeted for layoffs, start writing down their names, along with the names of younger, less-qualified employees who were kept on.
Disparate discipline
When you are being disciplined for something that younger employees do without consequences, that could be a sign that they might be building a case against you due to your age.
Promotions
When a younger less qualified employee gets chosen for promotion, and you know that you 're more qualified than him it may well be due to your age.
Favoritism
If younger employees are given the best leads, assignments and equipment, this could be a sign of age discrimination if older employees are excluded from key meetings, or if the boss only socializes with younger employees, then these too may be signs of age-based discrimination.
References:
Ballman, D. ( 2011, May 17). Nine signs of age discrimination. Retrieved from http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/05/17/top-signs-of-age-discrimination/
Diamond, D. (2013, July 05). Why the 'real ' unemployment rate is higher than you think. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2013/07/05/why-the-real-unemployment-rate-is-higher-than-you-think/
Ellen , W. (2011, Sep 15). When age and gender works against your job search . http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2011/09/15/when-age-and-gender-work-againstyour-job-search/ Heather, S., Kevin, B., & Jitendra, M. (2013). Discrimination in the Workplace. Advances in Management, 6(2), 3-9.
Paula Couto, M., & Wentura, D. (2012). Automatically activated facets of ageism: Masked evaluative priming allows for a differentiation of age-related prejudice. European Journal of Social Psychology, 42(7), 852-863. doi:10.1002/ejsp.1912
World Health Organization. ( 2013, March). Obesity & Overweight. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/