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Ageism Regarded as Biggest Form of Prejudice
By Clive Cookson, Financial Times
United Kingdom
September 7, 2005
Ageism is the most widely experienced form of prejudice in Britain, according to the first national survey on the subject.
"People reported being the target of ageism more than any other form of prejudice - be it based on gender, disability, sexuality, ethnicity or religion," Dominic Abrams of the University of Kent, the study leader, told the British Association science festival in Dublin yesterday.
Researchers interviewed a representative sample of 1,843 adults about their experiences of prejudice and their attitudes to people of different ages. Twenty-nine per cent said they had experienced prejudice or unfair treatment because of their age over the last year. The comparable figures for gender and race were 24 per cent and 19 per cent respectively.
People as a whole experienced ageism with about the same frequency as women experience sexism, said Prof Abrams, professor of social psychology. The 35-44 age group was the only one for which ageism was not the dominant form of prejudice.
Not surprisingly, people's definitions of youth and old age changed as they got older. "If you are a 24-year-old man you believe old age begins at 55," said Prof Abrams. "But a 62-year-old woman does not think youth ends until 57."
The survey showed the stereotypical views held about young adults and old people. Typically, those over 70 are seen as friendlier but less competent than younger people - this "doddery but dear" view of old age has also emerged from surveys in the US, Prof Abrams said. In contrast, people under 30 are "clever but callous".
Regardless of their age, 70 per cent of respondents felt they would be comfortable with a suitably qualified boss over the age of 70, though only 58 per cent were comfortable with a boss under 30.
On the other hand, half the sample believed that employers did not like having older people on their workforce because it spoilt their image. "So, while an older boss is acceptable, older employees are regarded as less desirable," Prof Abrams said.
As with most forms of prejudice, attitudes become more positive as people get to know members of the other group better. The study showed young adults with elderly friends had much more benign attitudes to old people than those without friends over 70.
The charity Age Concern, which sponsored the survey, said: "Encouraging more intergenerational, positive contact may be a key way of tackling ageism against people of any age."
Although ageism might seem a less wounding and vicious form of prejudice than racism or sexism in individual cases, Prof Abrams said the sheer pervasiveness of ageism revealed by the survey showed the need for stronger government action.
"We are not talking about a minority group; everyone is a potential victim," he said. "The economic reason for tackling ageism is that it puts a large section of the population out of employment."
Although the usual view of ageism is of older people suffering because unfair preference is given to the young, the survey showed that the opposite was also common. Many young adults felt that their employment prospects were blocked by poorly qualified older people, said Prof Abrams, "and young people feel they are disliked and they resent the stereotypical view of them as drunken yobs".
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