Abstract
AbstractFor older persons, age discrimination can undermine equal participation in modern service and consumer societies. One way to tackle age discrimination is to implement anti-discrimination policy and legislation. However, age discrimination is an ambiguous concept that can be interpreted in different ways and differences in the interpretation can impact the scope and application of related policy and legislation. Hence, to understand how policy, legislation and their central constructs operate within society, it is necessary to look beyond the letter of the law or policy text and explore the interpretations of age discrimination employed by actors in the field. We interviewed experts from Austria and Ireland, who by virtue of their professional or representative position co-structure the conditions for people to claim they have experienced age discrimination. Based on 12 expert interviews and two focus groups, each involving six representatives of the major national advocacy and interest organisations on ageing, we reconstructed four interpretation patterns of age discrimination: age discrimination as the ‘denial of dignity’, as the ‘denial of recognition of contribution’, as the ‘denial of participation’ and as the ‘lack of consideration of need’. The findings are discussed with reference to the concepts of recognition and representation, and considerations are provided on possible legal and political implications of this research.
Highlights
IntroductionWith the transition to the ‘tertiary civilization’ (Fourastié, 1949), modern societies can be regarded as service economies and having access to services is an essential part of social and economic participation
Age discrimination is an ambiguous concept that has the potential to be interpreted in a range of different ways (Iversen et al, 2009; Snellman, 2016) – across country contexts – impacting the scope and application of related policy and legislation
We provide a brief description of the differences and similarities between Austria and Ireland regarding policies and legislation related to age discrimination
Summary
With the transition to the ‘tertiary civilization’ (Fourastié, 1949), modern societies can be regarded as service economies and having access to services is an essential part of social and economic participation. Age discrimination can impede this access and fundamentally undermine such participation. Age discrimination is an ambiguous concept that has the potential to be interpreted in a range of different ways (Iversen et al, 2009; Snellman, 2016) – across country contexts – impacting the scope and application of related policy and legislation. More general definitions conflate both concepts (Ayalon and Tesch-Römer, 2018), and while some authors reserve the term discrimination for unequal treatment (Rothermund and Meyer, 2009), others speak of discriminatory stereotypes or attitudes blurring the distinction between the concepts (Stuckelberger et al, 2012; Healey, 2013)
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