Egalitarianism and Ageism

 

I have always been surprised by how prevalent ageist attitudes are, especially on social media and even in the mainstream media.  The clearest example of this that comes to my mind was the last American Presidential election, where I saw many commentators making derogatory comments (especially about Biden) about the age of the candidates, implying that their advanced age was a sufficient reason for discounting them as viable political leaders.  

When it comes to the race or sex of a political candidate we reject discriminatory and inegalitarian sentiments that try to tell people to "stay in their place", but when it comes to age prejudice some people's attitudes change.  This has always perplexed me.  This study explains what is going on.  A sample:

In this article, we argue that unlike the explicit prejudices directed toward women and racial minorities to “stay in their place,” age prejudice constitutes a unique form of Succession, prescribing older individuals to dynamically “get out of the way.” Succession is characterized by expectations for generational turn-taking, dictating that older people step aside and make way for younger generations by relinquishing their power and resources (North & Fiske, 2013a). Succession uniquely targets older individuals, and differs from other forms of prejudice, in which these “natural progression” expectations are not as clear (North & Fiske, 2013b). From this standpoint, although facing their own forms of discrimination, older individuals are perceived as blocking not only younger people, but also other disadvantaged groups, from opportunities. Thus, egalitarian advocates—or those who are motivated to create equal opportunity for all groups— might actively (and counterintuitively) discriminate against older adults.

....As society experiences a rise in social justice movements, understanding the mindset of egalitarian advocates is becoming increasingly timely. Nevertheless, in the context of an equally rapid rise in generational equity issues, the current research shows that such advocates do not endorse anti-ageism views in the manner that they do with racism or sexism. In the minds of such individuals, “equality for all” in spirit might yield “equality for some” in reality.

Cheers, 

Colin