Social Separation Of Ageism

Social Separation of Ageism
Another consequence of ageism is the intentional separation or segregation of older people from younger generations socially. Both sociologists and anthropologists have long recognized age as the basis of social organization and social integration. They both have shown that age serves as a marker for participation in the division of labor. Age grading has long been used to dictate how age groups have distinct rights and responsibility and how rites of passage are manifested by movement from one age grade to another. Chronological age has been and is used as a primary feature for determining when someone goes to school, when they can drive and when they can vote. People’s lives are often centered around preparation
A key weapon against stereotypes and prejudice is intergroup contact, which allows individuals the opportunity to challenge the segregation of sections of population into homogenous groups and see beyond stereotypes and prejudices about older people to appreciate qualities that can be viewed as strengths and uniqueness. Finding common ground to help facilitate ongoing interactions, familiarity and personal knowledge across the age categories are important for bond building and helpful in alleviating the effects of ageism (Hagestad & Uhlenberg,
In particular, feeling like older people cannot be trained leads to employers being less apt to train older employees on new concepts or to invest in their education. This, in turn, causes the older worker to leave the workplace. Studies carried out have shown that employers prefer to hire younger people because they feel they would get more out of their investment in training a younger worker over a soon-to-retire older person. Other studies have found that as older workers perceive their remaining time at work as limited, they had lower goals and expectations for learning and developing new skills. Interestingly, an older worker’s degree of job satisfaction can buffer the effects of negative stereotypes on their motivation and learning. Work centrality and perceived social supports tend to enhance job longevity while perceived age discrimination and one’s own feelings about aging tend to be associated with lower job longevity (Nelson,