Ageism
Ageism is the unjust or prejudicial treatment against the elder people because of their age. Like any other discrimination, the mistreatment based on age creates serious problems for both the individuals affected and society. This is specifically most common in developed countries such as the United States of America. This is because the Americans generally have high regard for the youth, vibrancy, beauty, and potential to acquire significant income. Therefore, ageism is seen in most high-income countries as a weakening process that deprives the individuals of their potentials. This mistreatment of older people often leads to various problems such as people’s health problems, which in one way or another affects society as a whole. Therefore this makes the issue to be a social problem as it requires immediate attention. This paper will discuss why ageism is considered as a serious social problem.
According to studies, it is evident that ageism has a lot of effects on the health of the individuals. Stress, depression, and vulnerability to heart diseases are common to older people (Sargent-Cox, 2017). This is because the older people accept the dismissive messages that they see or hear from the media and the people who are close to them they may suffer from stress or depression, which makes them susceptible to heart diseases. As a result, the elder people feel that they are a burden to the other people and start to see their lives as miserable and even less valuable. Further, marginalization also makes elder people have low self-esteem, making them have an increased rate of withdrawal and physical decline. This becomes a serious issue since their families spend a lot of resources on their welfare. Additionally, this also requires attention from those close to them, which might be an issue since almost all people are committed to their businesses.
Further, the studies from Yale establishes that the negative beliefs adversely affects older people. This is because the study provides that the negative beliefs about aging lead to the brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease (Berger, 2017). Precisely, the people who had more negative thoughts about aging are identified to have had a larger number of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles than those with less negative thoughts. On the other hand, the study shows that people with positive thoughts about aging have their lives extended by even up to seven years. Therefore, ageism is a social problem because discrimination leads to older people getting conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, which leads to a shortening of their lives. Their death affects a lot of people in society, such as their families and relatives. Additionally, the issue also becomes a social problem since the government’s expenditure would be impacted upon as the allocation towards the people’s health would be increased, which would impact many people.
Ageism has serious consequences on the economy of society in various ways. Discrimination based on age, especially in any of the workforces, is making the many senior workers lose their jobs, and as a result, this sends them to poverty. This is despite the efforts of The Age Discrimination Employment Act (ADEA) that states that it is unacceptable to discriminate against the workers of 40 years and above. However, 2/3 of the workers between 45 and 74 confirmed that they had experienced discrimination based on their ages in their jobs (Sargeant, 2016). As a result of ageism in the workforce, many older people lose their jobs and stay unemployed for a long time compared to younger people and may even fail to get employed again. Thus, older people become poor due to lack of jobs, which is true in the United States of America since they have 25 million Americans of ages 60 and above being economically insecure. Therefore, ageism becomes a social problem since it leads to poverty among older people, which is a serious issue. It leads to limited access to basic needs, education, and the other basic services to both elder people and those depending on them.
Ageism is also harmful to younger people in society since they are obligated to oversee their seniors’ health and well-being. According to research, younger people also are affected by the negative beliefs that they hear about aging. This is because the study identifies a strong connection between the ageism in early life and poor health later. When young people talk negatively about their elders, such as them being a burden to the other people and other unpleasant jokes, they reduce their chances of having healthy aging. This is because the young people having a bad attitude of their old age may have consequences for their health later. Therefore, ageism becomes a serious problem for young people since they have the responsibility of taking care and checking their health. In the process, they develop a negative attitude about old age, limiting their chances of having good aging.
Ageism is also a social problem since it is prevalent in the health community and often leads to harmful effects on older patients’ health. This is because due to the prejudice based on the age, the doctors may overestimate or underestimate the older patients’ medical welfare without any intentional effort to harm them. Some specific conditions may be abandoned because the patient has attained a certain age. On the other hand, the doctors may do overprescribing or any other meticulous examination because the patient is of advanced age. In the two cases, the doctors make a decision basing on the fact that the patients have attained an advanced age, which puts into danger the patient’s health. Therefore, this has become a serious social problem because the doctors assume in making the medical decisions about the health of the patients because they believe that the patients cannot communicate effectively and that the patients have cognitive impairments because of their older age. Further, the rampant cases of ageism affect the self-concept and esteem of older people. This is because aging affects the emotions of a person due to the loss of physical abilities, cognitive decline, isolation, depression, and other changes that can take away the health and happiness of the older people. Therefore, this becomes a serious issue in society since older individuals’ health and well-being are an obligation to the younger ones. Hence, the way of life is impacted.
References
Berger, R. (2017). Aging in America: ageism and general attitudes toward growing old and the elderly. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 5(08), 183.
Sargent-Cox, K. (2017). Ageism: we are our own worst enemy. International psychogeriatrics, 29(1), 1-8.
Sargeant, M. (2016). Age discrimination in employment. CRC Press.