Prejudices in evaluating a person abound: one of these is that relating to the age (real or presumed) of one’s interlocutor. Too young? Too over the years? Why should this affect us?
Agesism is the Italianization of the English term ageism (from age = age) coined in 1969 by the American psychiatrist Robert Neil Butle .
This concept alludes to all those stereotypes that lead to the idealization or devaluation of certain age groups : it can concern both the young and the elderly , although, in today’s society, it is the latter who are most often discriminated against and treated with prejudice.
Ageism towards the elderly
The capitalist society postmodern nestles itself a macroscopic paradox : on the one hand increases the proportion of elderly population (in accordance with the increase in life expectancy and falling birth rate), on the other exponents of this fringe they find themselves increasingly marginalized and lacking that recognition of authority and respect that was reserved for them in the past.
The capitalist production model seems too often to embrace work patterns that are incompatible with the different rhythms required by certain ages or moments in life: everything claims to be always and at any cost super fast, immediate, relentless .
On the other hand, in the common sense there are still many stereotypes and prejudices about old age and the social role that people belonging to this segment of the population can play. In an era that sees the beginning of the third age spread further forward , many prejudices seem to remain about what these people can still give to society.
Too often there is a cliché that being elderly equates to being physically and mentally inactive, resistant to change and unable to learn. Yet more and more elements belie these expectations: think of the fundamental role played by many grandparents in planning and family management of children ; how many people, even in old age, also thanks to the isolation due to the lockdown of the pandemic , learn to use social networks and other digital technologies .
The elderly: a “young” minority
Yet this form of prejudice is deeply rooted, even if less conspicuous than others; in some countries, such as Switzerland , ageism towards the elderly would surpass other forms of discrimination such as sexism and racism. Why does this happen?
On the one hand, the elderly are perceived as a “cost” for the economic and social system, the absurdity of this prejudice emerged in all its drama in the facts and in a certain part of the collective thought inherent in the early stages of the SARS pandemic CoV-2 initially considered a health risk only for the elderly population and also for this reason initially underestimated to a certain extent.
On the other hand, the elderly represent a relatively “young” minority : it is only in recent decades that with the progressive increase in life expectancy have they become a large social fringe (in other times those who reached old age were rare) and for this reason exposed to discrimination .
It is therefore still a minority whose defense does not appear to be institutionalized today, neither at the legislative level nor at the level of collective movements. If we compare ageism towards the elderly with other forms of discrimination such as sexism or racism, we see how much the latter can count on a media and cultural “visibility” that the people of the third age do not yet have.
Ageism towards young people the “nonconformists”
However, we said that ageism does not only concern the elderly but any age group. Young people who are at the beginning of a profession know this all too well and can be belittled or considered unreliable on the basis of their chronological age considered, stereotypically precisely, synonymous with incompetence.
In the female gender this prejudice is often combined with a more or less veiled sexism which, considering a young woman not very competent tout court, devalues her professional role to instead emphasize her physical agreeableness.
What seems more difficult and less obvious is to respect the fact that everyone’s life has different times that do not necessarily have to conform to those of an ideal path made up of stages already marked out a priori.
Undoubtedly, every age of life has its peculiarities , its resources as well as its limits and it would be insane to deny the differences and believe that we can do everything at any time in the life cycle. Nonetheless, however, there are essential individual differences that mean that the “best time” to do something cannot be approved but remains absolutely subjective.
Some begin to realize their dreams only in old age as happens to those who take an education diploma when they are already grandparents; many young people may be much less active than their grandparents (an example of all the phenomenon of hikikomori), others reach certain “stages” according to standardized criteria and then find themselves perhaps in full adulthood to radically change their lives.
“Someone graduated at 22 and found work at 27; some graduated at 27 and already had a job. There are some who are still single and have a child, others who, when married, had to wait 10 years before becoming parents.
Everything works according to our watch.
People can only live at their own pace. It may appear that your friends are ahead of you or that they are further behind.
But they are in their moment and you are in yours.
Live with patience. Be strong. Believe in yourself. You are not late and you are not early.
You are in your time ”
