Ageism

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Ageism^[1][2][3] is a type of discrimination based on one's age, generally used to refer to age based discrimination against elderly people. The term was coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler to describe this discrimination, building on the terminology of sexism and racism.^[4] Butler defined ageism as a combination of three connected elements: negative attitudes towards old age and the ageing process, discriminatory practices against older people, and institutional practices and policies that perpetuate stereotypes about elderly people.^[5][6]

The term "ageism" is also used to describe the oppression of younger people by older people. An example is a 1976 pamphlet published by Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor, MI.^[7] In the UK, at a meeting of the Bracknell Forest Council in June 1983, councillor Richard Thomas pointed out that age discrimination works against younger and older people.^[8] This includes the practice of denying younger people certain rights and privileges usually reserved for adults. These include the right to vote, run for political office, refuse medical treatment, and sign contracts.^[9] This definition of ageism can also include ignoring the ideas and contributions of adolescents and children because they are considered "too young" or dismissing their behavior as caused by their age. Ageism against the young also includes penalties, burdens, or requirements imposed exclusively (or to a greater degree) on young people than on older people, such as age-based military conscription.^[10]

In a youth-oriented society, however, older people bear a large proportion of age bias and discrimination. Older people themselves can be ageist, having internalized a lifetime of negative stereotypes about aging.^[11] Ageism is often connected to fears of death and disability- with avoiding, segregating, and rejecting older people functioning as a coping mechanism to avoid these concepts.^[12] There is a large overlap between ageism and ableism, discrimination based on disability.