Abstract
AbstractAgeism is a widely used term that is not (yet) well understood. We propose a redefinition of ageism and to separate it from ableism. We believe this to be important as remedies may depend on whether someone is experiencing ageism or ableism. While focusing the discussion on older workers as a sub-group of older people who (can) experience ageism, we assess the usefulness of critical (feminist) disability studies for ageism research. We hope that redefining ageism and analytically separating it from ableism (without suggesting that both concepts should be studied independently from one another) will provide guidance for researchers who study ageism and will allow for more specific policy guidance on how to solve difficulties experienced by older workers.
Highlights
There is increasing interest in the concept of ageism
We do this by answering the question: is part of ageism ableism? The focus here is on older workers as a sub-group that experiences ageism, leading to the question: if there were no ableism, how much ageism would older workers still experience? By proposing a new definition of ageism, we aim to contribute to the clarity and usefulness of the concept
We consider the hypothetical situation where, if we got rid of ableism, to what degree would there still be ageism? We identify multiple theoretical perspectives that suggest at least some ageism would remain
Summary
There is increasing interest in the concept of ageism. A Google Scholar search for ‘ageism’ gave about 1,180 results for the year 2000, 2,800 for 2010 and 5,180 for 2019 (search conducted 17 March 2020). Higgs and Gilleard (2020: 1618) recently challenged the current use of the concept of ‘ageism’ as it has become a catch-all concept. In this contribution, we agree with Higgs and Gilleard that we need to be careful what we call ‘ageism’, but identify a different problem with the concept, namely that it ignores ableism. We agree with Higgs and Gilleard that we need to be careful what we call ‘ageism’, but identify a different problem with the concept, namely that it ignores ableism We do this by answering the question: is part of ageism ableism? We do this by answering the question: is part of ageism ableism? The focus here is on older workers as a sub-group that experiences ageism, leading to the question: if there were no ableism, how much ageism would older workers still experience? By proposing a new definition of ageism, we aim to contribute to the clarity and usefulness of the concept
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