Abstract
The demographic data and projections show that the world is ageing at a high pace and that this has transversal consequences to society. The available data on ageism show that it constitutes the most prevalent form of discrimination in Europe. Whilst this seems logical because ageism, potentially, affects everybody (unlike sexism or racism), public debates on the phenomenon are rare. The awareness of people of its importance is minimal, the resources and investigation devoted to understanding it are relatively small and the initiatives towards combating ageism are not enough. There is a mismatch between the dimension of the phenomenon and the attention that we have given it. Ageism has various negative consequences for the older adults themselves; for the institutions at large (but especially for the working world institutions) and for countries. In a fast-ageing world that will witness structural changes in age groups, ageism is a complex phenomenon that needs to be counteracted. So far, in Europe, combating ageism through law and public policy seems to have produced poor results. However, the literature shows that adult education and learning can provide very effective means to improve the mutual knowledge between generations, combat myths and prejudice and deconstruct age-based stereotypes.
Highlights
We will examine ways to counteract ageism in two different dimensions: (i) we will start by looking at law and policy and, within, the role of age retirement; (ii) we will examine the possibilities of counteracting ageism via education, intergenerational learning and adult education
Non-formal and informal have the undeniable potential to combat ageism and its consequences, provided that employers and human resources departments acknowledge its importance and act. This is equivalent to saying that an adult education perspective on workplace learning—more than just training focused on professional competencies—is adequate to counteract ageism
Throughout this article, we have shown that ageism is the most widely experienced form of discrimination in Europe and has various negative consequences for older adults
Summary
It is widely recognised that the ageing of the population is accelerating worldwide. The data from the World Population Prospects (United Nations 2019) show that in 2018, for the first time in history, older adults aged 65 or more outnumbered children under five years of age. The ageing of the economically active population, together with an increased life expectancy and the fact that younger generations are entering later into the labour market, means that mainly one single generation, that of medium age, is actively working in many European countries (Guillemard 2013): two of the four living generations in a family line are retired while the youngest is in school Those changes mean a new composition of the societal age groups that can potentially alter the ways generations related and live with each other and call our attention to intergenerational solidarity, originally defined as social cohesion between generations (Bengtson and Roberts 1991; Bengtson and Oyama 2007). The European Social Survey analysed in its fourth-round data taken from 54.988 respondents from 28 European countries It revealed (Age UK 2011) that ageism is the most widely experienced form of discrimination across Europe. We will examine ways to counteract ageism in two different dimensions: (i) we will start by looking at law and policy and, within, the role of age retirement; (ii) we will examine the possibilities of counteracting ageism via education, intergenerational learning and adult education
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