Perceptions and Consequences of Ageism[1]

Ageing and Society 20, 2000, 253278. Printed in the United Kingdom" 2000 Cambridge University Press

253

Perceptions and consequences of ageism:views of older people

VICTOR MINICHIELLO*, JAN BROWNE* andHAL KENDIG

ABSTRACTThis qualitative study examines meanings and experiences of ageism for olderAustralians. While the concept is widely applied in academic social analysis,the term is not understood or used by many of the informants. They talk freely,however, about negative experiences in being seen as old and being treatedas old. Active ageing is viewed as a positive way of presenting andinterpreting oneself as separate from the old group. Informants recognisethat older people as a group experience negative treatment in terms of pooraccess to transport and housing, low incomes, forced retirement andinadequate nursing home care. While few have experienced overt or brutalageism, interaction in everyday life involves some negative treatment,occasional positive sageism, and others keeping watch for ones vuln-erabilities. Health professionals are a major source of ageist treatment. Someolder people limit their lives by accommodating ageism, while others activelynegotiate new images of ageing for themselves and those who will be old in thefuture.

KEY WORDS Ageism, perceptions, discrimination, qualitative research,active ageing.

Introduction

Ageism is a set of social relations that discriminate against older peopleand set them apart as being different by defining and understandingthem in an oversimplified, generalised way. Ageism is claimed to bevery prevalent in Westernised societies (Palmore 1998) and as Kenyon(1992) notes we will, if current public attitudes persist, all encounterageism if we live long enough. While Palmore (1988) shows that ageismis prevalent and widely experienced in the community, the literaturedoes not widely report older peoples stories of how this phenomenonimpacts on their lives. Since the term ageism was coined by Robert

* School of Health, University of New England, Armidale, Australia Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Australia

254 Victor Minichiello, Jan Browne and Hal Kendig

Butler in 1969, few studies have researched how older people mayrecognise and give meaning to the phenomenon of ageism. Suchknowledge is important as it may allow us to understand how theacademic construction of such a concept may align itself with olderpeoples experiences of ageism (Cremmin 1992).

Studies related to ageism have generally examined how the attitudesand beliefs of younger people contribute to denying older peopleopportunities and equitable treatment. For example, Giles and hiscolleagues (1992) demonstrate how young people process and respondto the speech of older people in stereotypical ways. In another study,Ryan and her colleagues (1995) show how younger people at aninteractional level use patronising verbal and nonverbal communi-cation towards older carers. Sawchuk (1995), who undertook anextensive analysis of advertisement campaigns and other marketingstrategies, concludes that at a public level many marketing discoursesperpetuate and reinforce negative stereotypes of old age. Studies whichhave focused on older workers have consistently found that they oftenface ageist stereotypes that define them as increasingly marginal in theworkforce (Maule et al. 1996). The most significant barriers anddeterrents are managerial biases that older workers are too costly, tooinflexible and too difficult to train (Imel 1996). Such findings areemerging not only from Western countries but also from formercommunist states. For example, Gerasimova (1996), who interviewedolder women from St Petersburg, found that the major difficultiesreported by her sample were age-discriminatory social policy andgerontophobic stereotypes. Reports of discrimination against olderworkers appears to be related to employers interest in downsizingtheir workforce (Encel 1995).

Health researchers have also examined how misconceptions aboutthe ageing process can have a detrimental effect on healthy ageing(Grant 1996). Walker and his colleagues (1996) argue that ageiststereotypes underlie many of the services designed for older people witha disability, with the focus centred mostly on care and less on supportof the older person to fulfil their potential. Numerous studies have alsoreported how therapists accept socially validated negative stereotypesof later life. For example, Woolfe and Biggs (1997) found that somecounsellors were less likely to use a psychodynamic approach with olderpersons, and this decision could result in the underestimation of later-life potential. Social workers were reported to spend less time and hadfewer contacts with older oncology patients than younger patients, withthe result that social workers may not be effectively assisting olderpatients to cope with important health and social issues (Rohan et al.

Perceptions and consequences of ageism 255

1994). Examining audiotaped interactions between physicians andyoung and older patients, Greene and her colleagues (1996) found thatthere was greater disparity between the goals of the doctor and olderpatients, and less joint decision making with older patients. Doctorstended to be less egalitarian, patient, respectful, engaged and optimisticwith the older patients. What these studies perhaps show is how easyit is for social arrangements in society to make it possible for ageism tobe so prevalent, yet for the behaviour to be seen as obscure and non-intentional (Bytheway 1995). Yet as Bytheway and Johnson (1990)have argued ageism is about age and prejudice and has realconsequences for older citizens.

Fewer studies have examined, however, what older people thinkabout ageing or their experiences of being treated as a stereotypedgroup in society. Some research suggests that older people are aware ofthe process of stereotyping and its consequences for them. For example,Koch and Webb (1996), in a study conducted in the United Kingdomwith older people in a hospital, found that narratives of the olderpatients about the care they were receiving included themes onroutine geriatric style and segregation which created feelings ofpowerlessness, perceived care deprivation and depersonalisation.Another study found that some older people use and accept thestereotypes that are associated with old age in society (Kenyon 1992),although some researchers refute the notion that older peoplenecessarily assimilate the negative societal images of being old (Oswald1991).

This paper discusses older peoples perceptions of the meaning of theword ageism. It explores the conditions under which older peoplemay recognise, identify and discuss explanations of treatment on thebasis of age in everyday life. The strategies that these older peopleadopt to deal with ageism and minimise its impact on their lives are alsodiscussed.

Method

The study relies on a qualitative research design to investigate olderpeoples understanding and experiences of ageism. This approach wasjudged to be appropriate given that there is little knowledge ofperceptions of ageism, and the study aims to add new knowledge to theconcept of ageism from the point of view of older people. The recursivemethod of in-depth interviewing, as outlined by Minichiello and hiscolleagues (1995), was used to allow informants to identify issues which


they considered to be important and relevant. An interview guide,which prompted the informants to discuss key issues associated with thetopic, covered the following areas : (i) the meaning of the wordageism ; (ii) what constitutes ageism; (iii) experiences of ageism; (iv)perceptions of social attitudes towards older people ; and (v) personalviews and experiences of becoming older. Emphasis was placed onretrieving incidents in the informants lives in which social attitudesabout older people were expressed, and on the consequences of theseattitudes on self-image and their experiences.

Qualitative interviews were conducted with 18 older people living inboth urban and rural settings in Victoria and New South Wales,Australia. Repeated interviews occurred with seven informants, wherethemes identified in the transcripts were further explored to seekclarification. Generally, the interviews varied in length from one toover two hours and took place in the homes of the informants. Theinformants were aged between 65 and 89. Three men and three womeninformants were aged between 65 and 70, four women and three menbetween 70 and 80, and five women were aged between 80 and 90. Fiveof the informants are currently living with their husband or wife, eightare widow}widowers, one is single never married, four are divorcedand live alone. Participants involvement in the community rangedfrom heavily involved to not at all involved. Community involvementincluded a diverse range of activities. For example, undertaking courseswith the University of the Third Age, involvement in clubs and socialorganisations (among others, these included book clubs, womensgroups, a carpentry group, playing in a band, card groups, and seniorcitizens club activities), doing volunteer work, active sport, walkinggroups, bushwalking clubs, and belonging to an environmental group.The majority of the informants are active and reported being able todo most of the things they want to do. The informants have variedemployment histories. Ten have retired from full-time employment,four have retired from home duties, four retain some casualemployment. Two informants were specifically recruited for theirassociation with organisations that seek to achieve positive socialperceptions of ageing.

Consistent with principles of qualitative research, the sample sizewas determined by recruiting informants with a diversity of socialposition and experiences. The following contrast categories were used:age, gender, marital status, current involvement in the community,general health and mobility and varied employment histories. Allinformants were recruited either through the branches of the Universityof the Third Age or using the snowball referral technique of asking


someone to recommend an older person who met the contrast samplingcategories (e.g. unmarried female, aged 80 and over, high involvementin the community, in good health and who was formerly employed).The study received ethics approval from the University and, to protectthe identity of the informants, they were all assigned research namesas noted in the quotes below. Due to financial constraints this sampledid not include contrasts from different cultural groups and socialclasses. It is important to note that the sample is relatively welleducated and includes more politically active older persons, which maymean that they are likely to have higher expectations with regard totheir rights as citizens, and to be better positioned to recognise andreact to ageism. Informants in this study are sometimes referred to aselders . By using the word elder as the general term for thepopulation group, the article is able to focus specifically on the nuancesof meaning for the terms ageing, old and older .

The data were analysed using the principles of grounded theory,where collection and analysis of the data were conducted recursively aspart of an integrated fieldwork analysis. The basic procedures includedasking questions about textual data; making multiple comparisons ;identifying concepts in the data and classifying these concepts intomeaningful categories ; and proposing and testing links betweencategories (Minichiello et al. 1995).

The meaning of the word ageism

When informants were asked to explain what they thought the termageism meant, their response ranged from no idea and completepuzzlement, to complex conceptualisations of ageism as a sociallyconstructed phenomenon based upon how society devalues olderpeople. Initially, some of the informants accounts gave the impressionthat they were indifferent to, or unfamiliar with, what was meant by orassociated with ageism. Some responses to the question What does theword ageism mean to you? included:

Is that actually a word youd find in the Oxford Dictionary? Its not a wordat all in my book. I think its one theyve made up! You can understandageing because we all age. But, no. I dont really get that word. I dont likeit. Ill look it up in my dictionary. (Mrs Lock)

I dont think Ive come across it. I know of isms. I have come across that inbooks. Youll know what youre reading in the context youre reading it, butI cant explain it. Of course, it would be something to do with your age if itsageism. (Mrs Dove)


What stands out in these answers is that some older people may lack themeans or the vocabulary to talk about ageism because they do notrecognise or understand the word. However, other intervieweespossessed a clearer notion of what ageism meant to them:

A label is put on a group and suddenly everybody in that group is supposedto be like that. You expect them to behave in a certain way and you treat themin a certain way, and theyre labelled as this group of strange people. Im verymuch against the labelling process because it defines people in certain areas,and I wouldnt like people to treat me within that label. I dont mind themthinking, yes, Im getting old, or Im a bit older. Its just the actual labellingprocess and to be denigrated by being labelled, and [being seen as] less thanhuman. (Mrs Rose)

Well, I suppose its peoples opinion of those who are not of economic value,who no longer contribute, and therefore are of no value that seems to be howpeople are being measured now. Im just trying to think of the people I hadin mind when I didnt want to be one of them, because that was really ageism.I guess I used to get impatient with older people and think they didnt haveanything to contribute, or what they had to contribute was so out of date andold fashioned that it wasnt worth listening to. They were slow and got in myway. They couldnt tell a story straight, theyd have to go off in variousdeviations to tell you why this happened and then eventually get back to themain theme. (Miss Phillips)

Despite understanding the general meaning behind the term andknowing how to use it, even these informants do not commonly use theword ageism. However not using the term does not imply thatinformants cannot describe the fundamental principles associated withageism. What the data reveal is that older people can talk about theexperiences of ageism using a different terminology from that found inthe gerontology literature.

Alternative ways of talking about ageism

The informants identified two social aspects of being an old person. Thefirst of these is being seen as old and the second is being treated asold. The words stereotypes and discrimination are terms that theyfurther used to describe some of their lived experience:

I understand stereotypes and discriminating. Well, these things are bad, in myopinion, because I dont think age has got much to do with anything. I mean,why should you treat anyone differently because theyre old? Theyre not adifferent person, and they probably dont feel old. A lot of people think, oh,youre old and silly . (Mrs Lock)

This suggests that informants recognise that there is a common way ofperceiving elders as a group who fit certain images and behave in


particular ways. The accounts from informants incorporate stereo-typical descriptive images of elders (e.g. frailty, being out of date,engaged in meaningless activity). These images also define older peopleas having specific needs (recipients of services and hand-outs from thegovernment), and comprise a way of defining older people as acollective of similar people who occupy a particular (usually devalued)place in society (non-contributing, dependent). The informantsacknowledge that older people may be treated in a certain way becauseof the labels that are given to them (e.g. being denigrated, being treatedwith impatience). Discriminatory treatment is, therefore, related tosuch predilections of who and what older people are, and their positionin society.

The notion of oldness

Although the word ageism may have no immediate meaning to someolder people, the concept of ageism and its characteristics hasconsiderable relevance and meaning. However, in order more fully tocomprehend how older people construct stereotyping of older peopleand discrimination against them, it is necessary to identify what beingold means to them, and how they identify, recognise, and can talkabout such experiences.

According to Rodeheaver (1990) older people also exhibit ageistattitudes. Similarly, interviewees in this study reflected an intern-alisation and acceptance of ageist stereotypes and prejudices throughtheir perceptions of what being old was. The informants descriptionsof oldness consisted of an extensive list of negative terms including: nottrying, withdrawn, isolated, irritating, self-oriented, living outside themainstream, unattractive, uninteresting, frail, senile, silly, over the hill,narrow-minded, a burden, lonely, vulnerable, dowdy, and unpro-ductive. Indeed, the word old is used in a tautological way and it isassumed to speak for itself ; that is, no further explanation is neededwhen one says someone is old. Examples of how informants identifiedwhat they perceived to be an old person include:

If all those things that you enjoy are behind you and youre not enjoying thelatter years of life because youre lonely, then I think youre old. Myimpression of getting old is physical frailty, of mental slow down, weightingthose two factors against the continual factor of experience. (Mr King)

I know friends of mine who are younger than me, and theyre real old people.I just describe them as they feel sorry for themselves and getting real old youknow, one of them particularly, hes had life, sort of thing. You know, they go


into their shell and they wont talk to anyone unless theyve got to. (Mr Hall)

These extracts show that older people embrace a notion of oldnesswhich is not about chronological age, but about a state of being, thatis about how one sees oneself. Once defined by the self or others as old,a person is then categorised as belonging to the negative stereotypicalimage of old age.

Being old to the informants, then, is about loneliness, loss of thingsthat were meaningful, being unimportant and irrelevant, or having norole. Identifying that one has these feelings about oneself may be theprimary condition under which a person categorises him or herself asold. Interestingly, informants made a definite distinction betweenageing and being old. An examination of the texts shows that wordsused to describe themselves and other people as becoming older or ageingbut not yet old, were positive and action-oriented, including beingmotivated, busy, interested, positive, useful, purposeful, adventurous,courageous, supportive and still trying :

I know so many people in my age group that get out and do things all the time.They probably do things that are more daring and go out on their own morethan when they were younger. (Mrs Smith)

Feeling old

There are a number of ways whereby the older person can dissociatethe self from the old group. These include describing oneself as havinga positive attitude, not looking old, not acting old; portraying the selfas intellectually developing, while those who are old are no longertrying to be mentally challenged; being fit and active compared toold people who are sedentary; and not acting in ways that areperceived as old. This finding supports Cremmins (1992) work onthe process by which older people may make a distinction betweenbeing old and feeling old. Although there is a common assumption thatolder people must feel old, the informants describe themselves as notold because they do not feel old. Statements like the followingexamples are found in almost every transcript :

I know I look older, but I dont feel old. I havent arrived at the feeling offeeling old. (Mrs Smith)

I know in my own mind Im growing older but really Im doing the same sortof thing as Ive always wanted to do and Ive never sort of considered myselfto be growing old, I know by birth date and everything you are, but I dontfeel that Im getting old. (Mrs Rose)


The notion of arriving at feeling old is important because it portraysfeeling old as a step or stage in the process of accepting the self as old.The underlying assumption here is that once people feel old they willthen be perceived and treated as old by others and will begin to act inthe ways they believe an old person should act. There is anexpectation that once a person feels old they are moving out of apositive ageing experience and entering into the state of being oldwhich is described by informants as negative ageing :

Retirement was wonderful until I lost my wife, and then thats when you reallyfeel, you know, that youre old. Its so very easy, if youre not strong enough,to really let it get you, you know. I nearly did. So loneliness is terrible,especially when you are old and I got in that terrible state and you know, Isaid to me, Youve got to get out there and get amongst people . Then, ofcourse, I came here (referring to moving into a retirement village), and thisis it, this is what made me, this lifted me up again. (Mr Hall)

I think if I lived alone and didnt belong to a group I would feel old. But withthe association of the group, the belonging to the group, the challenge to dosomething in the sense of having achieved something, all these things arehelpful to us. (Mr King)

This brings us to ask what substantive experiences the informants haveof being seen and treated as old, whether or not they recognisediscrimination and stereotyping, and how they construct and managesuch experiences.

Experiencing ageism

Interestingly, when asked directly whether informants had experienceddiscrimination or could provide examples of being treated as old, mostinitially said that they had not had many such experiences.

Really, myself, personally, I havent struck it very much that Im reallytreated as an older person. (Mrs Rose)

I cant pull any examples out of my head, so clearly they dont affect me allthat much. Im not aware of [being treated as less intelligent], but then, Iwasnt aware that I was being discriminated against as a woman either till ithit me in the head. (Miss Phillips)

Nevertheless, there is an acknowledgment that older people are on theouter :

But I think society on the whole hasnt got time for people ageing, theyhavent. Maybe the family has, but the whole of society not particularly. Itsnot geared towards us. (Mrs Smith)


I think perhaps sometimes on an official level it [ageism}discrimination] seemsto come across to me almost as if it is in the sense. If you think of how therereally are not enough services for older people that do become ill not enoughnursing homes; not enough places for people, say, with Alzheimers ; researchfunds being cut more and more all the time. It always seems to be thevulnerable ; its also the unemployed, I guess, who are not oldWhat arethey going to cut out? the unemployment offices so many areas where peoplejust arent politically strong that they are losing any assistance, and, again, Idont think theres enough research into preventative medicine generally andjust preventative services. Were more and more swinging over to usingvolunteers and its good to be in voluntary work of some kind at various stagesof your life, but theres a lot of unpaid benefits that go to society, I think, andthere are some things you just cant depend on volunteers to do. (Mrs Rose)

The instances of ageism detected are neither overt nor brutal, andfrequently occur in subtle and obscure ways that make it hard for theinformants to decipher such incidences as occurring specifically becauseof their age. Yet informants recognise a number of society-wide formsof ageism, including issues around access to the environment, forexample, toilets ; inadequacy of the pension as a livable income;housing issues for those pension dependent ; entry into nursing homes;compulsory retirement and access to meaningful employ in older years.As reported earlier, more personalised forms of ageism were alsoidentified in everyday social interaction.

Access as an ageist issue

Sick people, old people, shut in people on the whole are invisible, so that youdont have to think about them when you build something. Unless youpersonally have something to do with them, you dont see them. (Mrs Rose)

This comment summarises ways in which some informants perceivethat frail older people are marginalised in society through poor accessto the physical environment. Although access is not an issue for mostinformants at present, all are aware of the potential impact ofinaccessible environments on their lives :

We have a bus here (in the retirement village), our own little bus, and theytake us in, very kindly, on every second Monday and we can do some shoppingif we wish. Last time I went in, I was stepping into it and I got onto the firststep and getting into the next section, I had troubleAnd so, thats one thingthat is a bit of a nuisance. It was too painful. So I just sort of feel, no, Iwouldnt go in. There are all those little things that happen to you whenyoure older and, well, thatsWell, the bus is there, but I might be the onlyone that cant get onto it. There are other people as old as I am, and they canget on it. It might be just me. But, you know, last time I went, I said, Oh,I dont know so I tried with one leg and the person who was driving us,


she said, Well, try with the other foot, and I tried and I pulled myself andI got on. Its all right getting off. I found the same thing when I went to thepodiatrist. I went to get into her chair last time and I thought Id never getinto it ! And I never thought to ask her had she a foot to elevate it, but I justdidnt go again, I havent been again. (Mrs Dove)

These stories highlight a way in which older people may adjust theirlives so as to accommodate problems they encounter. For example, MrsDove altered her routine because she could no longer access transport.She did not ask for alternative arrangements. Additionally, shebelieved that this was her problem, not an issue for other olderpeople, nor a social issue around the notion of privilege and rights. Thebelief that access is an individual rather than common problem and,that one accepts such problems as being the normal, accepted,unchallengeable consequence of ageing, suggests that the underlyingreasons why some older people may discontinue to engage with certainactivities may not be fully understood by those providing services forthem. Older people may simply drop things out of their life onceaccess becomes difficult rather than lobby for improved resources.

Income

Income emerged as an issue for some informants. Even in this restrictedsample, ageing was experienced differently according to ones economicresources. For example, in this quote an informant describes thelifestyle of an aunt she visits in a private nursing home:

One of the ways I see them as being treated differently is probably withdeference because theyve got money. Visions come to my mind, like thecarpet on the floor in the loos that they go into, and chairs to sit down on andthat sort of thing. But, then again, its sort of an income based thing ratherthan aged, and I think people are realising that the aged are now an economicgroup to be wooed. But, you know, its discrimination thats economic based,whether its positive or negative discrimination. (Miss Phillips)

The majority of the informants were relatively financially secure,having both superannuation or savings and pensions. In all but onecase, these informants believe that people on the pension are living inpoverty, and that they would be living in poverty if they were solely onpension:

As you get older you think I wouldnt mind having a few bob to go and buythat , but we just feel if we want something we wait until weve got the moneyfor it (Mr Baker)

The following informant shares a house with her niece and nephew,because it would be too costly for her to live alone, and if she were to


live alone she would have to go without the few luxuries she currentlyenjoys :

I would say that anyonewell, certainly anyone trying to live on the pensionwould be living in poverty and there are lots of things that you just cannotcontrol. Weve been trying to cut down on water, using water, you know, turnoff the tap, its environmentally sound not to have the tap running, but it alsosaves us money. When you look at the water bill and thats the least part ofthe bill theres the connecting fee and this and that and the other, andtheyre fees that you just cant control. Theres a lot of expense that you justdont have any control over, unless you have the water disconnected. [laughs]And the same goes with power, and I just noticedyou know, weve got akitty and I noticed that the kitty is not lasting until the end of the week, so foodobviously has gone up. We dont live lavishly but we dont live poorly. So Idont see myself ever living on my own again, I just would not be able to affordit. I like the idea of mixed housing but I wouldnt see myself in a single unit.I dont know how much they cost but it would still be too much. I likesomething for wine and booksand to run my carthatd be terrible not tobe able to run my car. Well, thats why health is important becauseyeah,to drive the car, to be independent. (Miss Phillips)

Informants highlighted issues related to obtaining a comfortable levelof existence, struggling and going without, financial difficultiesexperienced by single women who have not been able to accumulateadequate superannuation, and other financial problems, such asobtaining bank loans or finding appropriate and affordable housing:

We pay a maintenance each month and I know there are a few who struggleto make that payment, even though they are living here in the Village. Peopleforget that those who retired 20 years ago didnt get the money that they getthese days. And they forget that a lot of them are struggling to live. (Mrs Vine)

I accept what is doled out to me and I make use of it, but if you had to liveon the pension and you had nothing behind you, I dont think youd ever haveanything youd be scratching, you really would, because you never knowI wouldnt like to be down to the nitty gritty, I like to sort of feel Ive gotsomething behind me. (Mrs Dove)

The informants who are not pension-dependent, view income-relatedissues as other peoples problem. In comparison, those who arepension-dependent have strategically adjusted their lifestyles, livingarrangements and consumption to accommodate their low income:

For the ones that have to pay rent, I dont think the pension is adequate. See,thats a bit hard for me because Im sort of living with family, but if I had togo out into a flat and pay rent, electricity and water and whatever, I dontthink Id survive. I think there must be a lot of people in that predicament andI think the people that live that way should have a little bit more income tocover their expenses. I dont think theyd be able to feed themselves properlyby the time they paid everything out of their pension money. (Mrs Martin)


Informants identified social issues that involved discriminatory treat-ment of elders as experiences that are not unique to older people. Theyspoke about older people being one of the many vulnerable groups,which included people with a disability and people who areunemployed or poor. At the same time there were comments thatpension allocations reflected perceptions of elders as undeserving andunquestionably able to adjust to a low standard of living.

Being a burden

An important issue identified was the fear of becoming a burden tofamilies or society. Informants expressed a taken-for-granted belief thatat some stage most older people needed some form of care and thatthey would inevitably require help themselves :

Ill live with my family till I get too old, I suppose, and cantankerous, to staywith them. There will be a time Ill have to go in a home. (Mrs Martin)

Yet every informant made statements similar to the following examplesand stated without hesitation that they would prefer to receive carefrom outside their immediate family :

Im gonna stop here while I can manage. My daughter-in-law said Ill lookafter you. I said I dont believe in having anyone look after me like that.Theyve got their own lives to live. (Mrs May)

Im too independent. My daughter, when shes with me, wants to pamper me.I object to that passionately because when she does that because Imindependent I feel lessened. And I dont like that. I dont like people makingme feel that Oh, you cant do that, Ill do it for you, you know. (MrsAbrams)

For these informants being cared for by family characterises a loss ofautonomy and independence. Ironically they perceive the option ofentering a formal care situation as the retention of their decision-making power, individuality and choice. However, talk about nursinghome care is in reference to needs for physical, not emotional, care andthere is an underlying assumption that when in a nursing home currentsocial relationship networks will be maintained.

Retirement

Compulsory retirement was discussed as a situation in whichstereotyping of older people was unmistakable. The two main issuesraised about retirement were compulsory retirement and meaningfulactivity in retirement. Compulsory retirement was described as being


built upon a stereotype of older people as physically and mentallydeclining, which was not only incongruent with their self perceptions,but also seen as loss of a valuable social resource in the workplace:

The consequences of forced retirement then are that you turn 65 and out thedoor, no matter how qualified or how experienced they might be, they are out.(Mr Baker)

Suddenly at 65, after functioning, working computers, having responsiblejobs, you stop, like the click of your fingers. I think somehow there should bea greater use of the facilities of the knowledge and education of older peoplethats just being wasted. (Mrs Smith)

The informants spoke about the need for meaningful employment,having a sense of achieving, productivity and belonging, which wasmore than just doing anything to fill in time. This group of retiredpeople refuted the myth that retired people were sedentary, isolatedand bored. For the most part they described themselves as being fullyengaged in a wide variety of pursuits. Highlighted as a key concern wasthe issue of the type of activities that are available in nursing homes forolder people. Fears were expressed of being patronised, treated as incompetent imbeciles and not having their own means of ensuringthat the activities available to them were meaningful and enjoyable :

I take ribbing from the family, but its only ribbing. For example, ouryoungest daughter is a bit of a villain, and we were out to Chinese not longago, the three of us. I have a habit of spilling things down my front, you know,and she jumped up with a serviette and wiped my mouth for me and said Iknow you cant help it because of the Alzheimers, but Im here to look afteryou, and every eye in the restaurant was on me for the rest of the night. I wasfrightened to move, you know. Shes laughing all the time, and just silly thingslike that and theyll say to me, Ive lost three tickets to Beauty and the Beast,and so I have to take a great ribbing from them about that. Sometimes, evenwith our own family, theyre good, but you get Youre getting too old forthat , whether they mean it or not. You are never completely sure, but thereare things you probably shouldnt be doing as you get older. If Charlie hasbeen tied up with bowls or something, and theyll say You all should be pastthat at your age. It shouldnt really apply. I think thats how everyone shouldthink, you shouldnt let it enter your mind Oh, gosh, Im getting too old tobe doing this . They do it in a joking way, but sometimes you just dont knowwhether they really do mean that or not. Some days you just think Do youmean it, do you really think Im getting old? . (Mrs George)

And you get that attitude, as though you dont existThey dont think youare as intelligent as you used to be, I find this a lot. What would they knowat their age? . You get this from all areas. They think because you are gettingolder you dont know two and two. It doesnt happen a lot, but it is there,because you are getting older that you dont have the mentality that you used


to have when you were younger, and they forget that you have brought afamily up, you have provided for a family and I find a lot of families dontwant to know their oldies as they get older, and this is terrible, but theyveoutgrown them. (Mrs Vines)

Interactive ageism

The notion of interactive ageism has received minimal attention inthe literature, yet in this study it emerges as one of the main contextsunder which the informants were able to identify forms of dis-crimination and stereotyping. Interactive ageism involves experiencesat the interpersonal level. Self perceptions through interactions withothers involves being seen and treated as old in ways which are moreobviously defined as age-related.

Ageism is experienced in interactions in various forms, includingjokes about growing older. Informants are able to laugh at jokes aboutageing, to joke about growing old themselves and to recognise that theyonce made the same jokes. They are also able to laugh at the problemsof ageing and to accept such jokes as intended in good fun, whilerecognising the subtle and not so subtle scripts within jokes asdescriptive of the possibilities and realities of their own experiences. Ofmore importance to some informants were derogatory comments aboutageing or older people, interactions that are tormenting or patronisingin nature, such as receiving abuse as drivers, being pushed in the street,being treated with impatience or indifference, and being questioned asto whether certain activities are appropriate for someone their age. Theinformants were able to recall experiences which the literature woulddescribe as ageism:

Im not very pleased because I hear my daughter and son-in-law makingderogatory comments about his mother. (Mrs Smith)

I think older people have quite a lot to give to younger people and its wrongto think that theyre not capable of doing it. They think because youre gettingolder fair enough, the mental faculties are not quite the same, but theyrestill quite good, but they just dont want them joining in a lot of things,thinking Well, what would you know, youre getting older . You do find thisattitude a lot, sometimes even occasionally with our own family, They are allgood, but you get youre getting too old for that , whether they mean it ornot. You are never completely sure if they mean it or not. But there are thingsyou probably shouldnt be doing as you get olderI dont really think theymean it, but just some days you think Do you mean it, do you really thinkIm getting old? Some days you feel you are getting old, but we all have baddays, Im sure they have bad days too. You dont like being told about it all


the time. I just think its going to come soon enough, dont tell me about it.Even shopping you find it. If you cant see something thats up there, or ifyoure just too stiff to reach up and get it and you ask some of the attendantsin the shops, you know, they look at you as much as to say Well, you shouldbe able to do these things . You are a bit of a nuisance to everyone. You getthat attitude a lot I find in shopping. Youll ask for help and, especially themiddle-aged ones, they dont seem to have the same patienceso theykeep out of your way, they dont want to see you coming. This hurts becauseyou know youre not really old, but you do need a little bit of help as you aregetting older and a lot just arent prepared to give it. (Mrs Vine)

Such interactions with others influence older peoples self-concept andcause them to question their own competence, and feelings of safety andsupport in the community. Derogatory comments take many forms,and have an impact on self-concept and the wellbeing of the recipient.The way in which older people interpret these messages may influencehow they act. For instance, while one informant was out driving on thefreeway, a young driver tooted his horn, yelling out derisive commentsabout the older person being a stupid old idiot and tried to force himoff the road. The elder never drove again and surrendered his licence.This interaction with a younger person has resulted in an increasinglyimmobile, isolated and negative ageing for an older person. In othercircumstances, older people interpret and respond to situationsdifferently, and may take action to change the situation in which theyfind themselves.

Positive interactions sageism

In stark contrast to the instances cited above, stereotypes of olderpeople may be positive and support the older persons self-image andability to engage in the world. Sageism refers to a positive form ofageism, the assumption that older people are wise or sages . Withsageism, people interact with older people as venerated elders who arerespected for their knowledge and experience. There is potential fornegative effects, however, if the elder cannot meet such expectations.Some informants suggested that they might receive unexpected respect,were sought out for their wisdom, and people might listen to them morenow that they were older.

I find that younger people, those say of 40 and under, look to me and expectthat because of the extra years, Ill have extra experience in whatever field,and accordingly they look to me to have some of the answers to the questionsthat they are asking themselves. There is an anticipation that because ofadvancing years there is vast experience and this person might have all theanswers. People have certain expectations of me and I dont like letting themdown. Yet I realise that now, year by year, I kind of let more people down or


else they will have lesser expectations of me because of my ageing, So thatpeople who ask me to do the things I did when I was 50, they see that a 70-year-old, hes past that, well he couldnt handle that (Mr King)

Mr Kings comment about people having certain expectations andcoming to a realisation that they are failing to meet them, raises thenotion of keeping watch, assessing whether elders are ageing or old.

Keeping watch

Growing old may be a closely monitored process in which observerstake into account more than simply the presence of a few addedwrinkles or other physical changes. The concept of keeping watch,used by several informants, is a term coined to express the process bywhich people observe and monitor older persons for signs of incipientoldness. In particular, the older person is observed for evidence to showwhether or not they are still trying to participate in life, and remainhealthy, engage in meaningful activity, maintain their physicalpresentation and remember things. Evidence about the older personshealth and coping status is accumulated and expectations aremaintained or lowered according to whether or not these benchmarksare met. This is not purely a negative process. Keeping watch consistsof elements of caring and protecting the elder from harm. It is also aprocess through which older people reassure themselves that aparticular sign or lapse was only temporary and not an indicator thatthey are now old. For the main part, however, observance of eldersis used to determine whether they can be categorised and treated asageing or old:

In a way you experience those stereotypes being applied to you because if youdont meet peoples expectations, theyre going to start categorising you as old,theyre going to start saying he cant do that , so then they dont expect somuch of me. So in a way its there in your life and you can experience it. Ithink thats it. Yes, I suppose there is a sense in which people look at you andsay well, hes not actively doing things now, hes not being stimulated by thatactivity, if we watch him long enough hell soon decline. Im aware of that.You wouldnt expect people to sit down and think that, but thatsunconsciously what theyre thinking. (Mr King)

Keeping watch has two potential outcomes. Older people are identifiedas still trying, or as no longer trying. Informants commented thatit is just as important to appear to be trying to meet the expectationsof others as it is actually to be able to do what is expected of them. Thisappears to suggest that an older person who is perceived to be stilltrying will be described and treated more positively than an olderperson who is perceived to be not trying.


Such expectations of what older people should do (compared towhat they may want to do), in order to have a meaningful life, arereinforced in interactions with people in their social milieu. Indeed, assome of the informants stories indicate, an elder who is perceived asnot trying may be misunderstood because people around do notsearch for the reasons for their withdrawal or apparent decrease ininvolvement in their usual activities. Rather, such a change is acceptedby the elder and those around as a normal part of getting and becomingold. For instance, Mrs Smith talks about a friend whose family haveconcluded that she is progressively withdrawing from her usualactivities. She describes how peoples attitudes and perceptions of thewoman are changing and becoming more negative, less tolerant andless sympathetic. People are irritated with the woman for seeminglyhaving given up and she is discussed disparagingly within the family.Another informant talks about his increasing confinement and sense ofisolation now he is unable to get out, despite longing to be activelyinvolved with the community. He believes that younger people are notattracted to him because older people in general are perceived asunattractive and uninteresting. However, given his poor health, he says the world must come to me now, because he can no longer go to it.

Older people may go to considerable lengths to be perceived as stilltrying because they are aware of the cost of being categorised as nottrying. Underlying discussions about keeping watch is a sub-text thatonce an elder is categorised as no longer trying to participate in dailylife and the community, and with an increasing sense of feeling old,the social context for defining the person as old is created:

Age can overwhelm you if you become lonely, self-centred, [thats] getting old.I think if you are self-centred you get old quicker. When I say self-centred Imean those who feel they are on the outside looking in, a person who isinterested only in themselves. It comes back to the lonely business. If you feelyou are forced out of society, youre over there on your own, yes thats negativeto the aged person. (Mr King)

Its not often that I have been treated as if I was a silly old woman, even ifpeople thought it privately. And yet I have seen other people treated like that,as if they couldnt do things or they couldnt think, or they couldntunderstand or things like that. Sometimes of course, older people behave likethat themselves, so that people treat you the way you behave. If you behaveas if youre old and you couldnt possibly understand or you couldnt possiblydo that and youve got to be treated as if you were frail, then people willgradually behave to you that way. On the other hand, theres a lot of youngpeople who sit around and behave like that too. Really I guess Im labellingthe old myself in that case. (Mrs Rose)


These comments suggest that people, including other older people,may perceive that a presumed lonely or withdrawn elder has chosen tobe that way. Thus people may define an isolated older person as lonelyand withdrawn and wanting to be alone, while this same older personmay be defining herself as lonely because the world is not attracted toher and will not come when she cannot go to it.

Attitudes of health professionals

Informants identified a number of negative experiences with healthprofessionals. The interviewees did not identify these incidents asoutright or blatant rudeness, ostracism or deliberate mistreatment.Rather, they narrated incidents in which older people were neglectedor treated as unimportant patients ; where there was removal of eldersautonomy when they were not consulted about major decisionsregarding their health and lives. There were incidents also where theywere expected to tolerate and accept physical discomfort and painrather than seek pro-active management; or where they had minimalaccess to preventive health initiatives ; and were not properly informedof the reasons why medical tests were conducted:

My husband had a very high sugar rating, and the doctor said hed have togo into hospital for a couple of days to have it brought down. They didnt evenworry about him. They just put him in a corner and forgot him for a week.I always felt that hospital killed him. They had him there for weeks and theywerent doing anything about his diabetes. But they were doing all sorts ofother tests on him for prostate cancer and this and that. (Mrs Evans)

The doctor was talking to the charge nurse about nursing homes, and I saidExcuse me, doctor, dont talk about nursing homes, youve seen me at myworst here, and Ill know when I have to go into a nursing home, I want tomanage on my own. They werent thinking of me. He didnt see me here athome, you know. (Mr Hall)

In each of these cases, the incident occurred as an in-the-faceexperience, the older person identifying what happened as beingcaused by the perception of a person as an old person. Although MrHall overheard the professionals planning, and intervened on his ownbehalf, this is an unusual action compared to the rest of the data. Forthe most part, informants acknowledged and identified discriminatorypractices in the health system, but portrayed a sense of powerlessness.Although they recognised such treatment as wrong, they felt it was, forthe most part, unchallengeable and unchangeable.


Strategies to manage ageism

Older people are sub-consciously and subtly aware of the existence ofmany more obscure forms of ageism, and they adopt their ownstrategies and ways of dealing with stereotyping and discrimination asthey experience them. These strategies enable them to minimise theimpact of ageism on their lives. Two strategies for managing ageismwere identified. These were accommodating ageism and negotiatingnew images of ageing.

Accommodating ageism

Older people may live their lives according to a philosophy of notmaking waves , which spills over into the way in which they deal withageism. Some informants talk about accepting situations as they are,saying that they just try to get on with life , make the most of things ,and prefer to ignore unpleasant interactions. From this perspective,older people are perceived as powerless to change what happens tothem:

Youve just got to go with the flow if you want to be happy in your life. If youstart making waves you only start making yourself miserable. And so you justhave to accept it, and say thats the way it is now, and thats the way its goingto be. (Mrs Vine)

Numerous instances in which older people have adjusted their lives toaccommodate being treated as old can be found in the data. Forexample, to accommodate to inadequate pensions older people moveinto shared accommodation, struggle to manage, or scrape and saveto get things they need. Informants who said they were pushed orbumped in the street adopt the strategies of not going out so much,taking a walking stick for defence whenever they go out, not sayinganything to the person and ignoring the aggressor. Those who aretreated rudely or impatiently in shops simply disregard this behaviour.Informants describe instances in which they have simply stoppedparticipating in certain activities because access is poor. They withdrawfrom situations in which they are treated as old or unwanted, or inwhich they would have to assert themselves and ask for specialtreatment in order to enable them to continue with an activity :

Oh, well, theyre very good here, I tell you, theyre marvellous, I think theyare. So Im never short of something to read. In fact, if I send someone down,if I got someone to go down for me, and rang them up and asked them wouldthey get me something Im sure theyd do what they could and send me aselection of books up. But I like to go down and see for myself. I like browsing


round there. If I had nothing else to do and I thought my bladder would lastlong enough I could spend the day browsing around the library. You alwaysfind something that you havent read before. I think most people, as they getolder, find that[laughs] I dont know whether your bladder gets smaller orweaker. [laughs] Well, Ive never inquired. But, see, theyd have to have morethan just a toilet available. First of all, Id have to get my wheelchair in, and,secondly, I just cantIve got what they call a doughnut on top of mine, toraise you up, I couldnt sit on an ordinary one, so it wouldnt be much use tome, and you wouldnt expect them to have facilities for someone, you know,like me. Thatd be asking too much. (Mrs Lock)

Some interviewees comments about whether or not older people cantake action to change their situation, either individually or collectively,are revealing. They do not believe people have, or perhaps even shouldhave, a political voice:

I always thought that we were old and we had to just take what we were givenand there wasnt much we could do about it. Old people just wouldnt havethe idea or the energy or the whatever it takes to push. It has to be a certaintype of person. They may have the right but they dont have what it takes tofight for it, to get their rights. So theres nothing else they can do but take whatthey get, is there? If you dont have anyone up high in the governments youcant possibly get anything, so there isnt anything you can do about it. Evenif there are millions of us, we cant allI dont think the elderly people dohave any hope of breaking through into the governments ideas of helping andpaying the people that need more. (Mrs Martin)

By accepting that ageism is inevitable and that older people have littlepower to change situations of discrimination and stereotyping, eldersare forced to learn ways to adjust to its existence. This creates a climatewhich may heighten the likelihood of abuse and oppression of elders.

Negotiating new images of ageing

Some of the informants say that they are able to negotiate ways tominimise the impact of ageism on their lives. They develop strategies toprevent people from seeing them as old and treating them as old. Theseinformants try to negotiate a new image of ageing for themselves. Theymay challenge the ill-founded assumptions about ageing and olderpeople ; try to educate people about positive ageing; and believe thatelders can work collectively to achieve change at policy level.

Although they do accept that physical changes are inevitable in laterlife, these informants talk about ageing in a way that suggests they canchoose, to a certain extent, what happens to them as they age and,through a number of strategies, ensure that their own ageing is positive.These include: maintaining intellectual challenges and stimulation,remaining physically fit and eating a healthy diet, engaging in


preventive health screening, acting and thinking young, maintainingsupportive networks, having a sense of belonging, undertaking activitiesthey enjoy and being flexible about participating in activities. In someinstances, they make a deliberate effort to be seen by other people asnot old, or to make people forget that they are old:

The shopkeepers down here are marvellous, theyre all so good andcooperative. Ill go in and have a yarn or crack a joke and have a go sort ofthing, and they reciprocate, then they forget that youre an old person. (MrHall)

Well, I think, for me, the most important thing is not to be locked away withmy own generation, and to be able to stay around all age groups, and, again,for me, having mental stimulation and intellectual challenge is still important,still being able to drive my car, and I suppose also feeling useful. I feel usefulin this household and I feel Im getting a lot out of U3A, but Im putting alot back in too, and I suppose thats all part of my negotiation, and its giveand take and feeling as though I still count. (Miss Phillips)

These informants work at convincing people that they are as mentallycapable as they have always been and that they are the same person.They argue that being older is a continuation of the self from the pastthrough the present, rather than something or someone new ordifferent. As one informant said:

The most important issue is probably for people to forget that you arebecoming older, in a sense. (Mrs Rose)

Consequently, older people negotiate with ageist stereotypes by tryingto create an image of themselves as an ageing person who differsmarkedly from the stereotypical image. Further, they try to get peopleto reflect on the incongruity of stereotyped images of ageing and theactual lives of elders, and through this reflection create a new model ofageing:

But Ive just read an article on ageing, its strange, its very interesting actuallyand Im taking it down to my daughter for her to read. Im taking it down forher to read so that she can be aware of whats happening with us all, meincluded but probably in a different way to her mother-in-law. That this ispart of old age and that everybody is going to grow old, including herself. Shewouldnt consider what she said about her mother-in-law to be a derogatorycommentIll just point out to her, this is happening to us all now. We areall getting older, so be kind about it. (Mrs Smith)

They call U3A senior kindergarten and its not that, but Im sure thats whatpeople see it as, you know that theyre all off painting or theyre all offplaying bingo or something. So I want to try and portray the intellectualstimulation that older people are getting and through that portray a morepositiveI wont say dignified thats not the word I want to use but a


more positive image of older people. (Miss Phillips)

Conclusion

This qualitative study represents an initial exploration of older peoplesperceptions of ageism, and the consequences of ageism on their lives.The findings suggest that the words used within the gerontologicalliterature to talk about how older people are treated and perceived arenot the words that older people use to describe their own experiences.Alternative language that older people use to talk about the conceptthat gerontologists call ageism includes being stereotyped or beingseen as old, being discriminated against or treated as old.

The results reveal that older people may be acutely aware of beingseen as old, but are often uncertain about making claims that they areactively treated as old or discriminated against because they are old.This can be partly explained by the way in which they construct themeaning of oldness, and ways in which they dissociate themselves fromthe wider group of old people. The word ageing is associated withpositive aspects of older peoples lives that co-exist with externalevidence of becoming older. The word old, however, has symbolicmeaning which embodies the most common, negative stereotypicalperceptions of older people, along with a rare positive element such assageism.

The informants experiences of ageism also support previous findingsabout the areas of daily life in which ageism might be experienced(Bytheway 1995). While ageism of all forms can be damaging, ageismin interpersonal relationships may have the greatest impact on theolder persons self-perceptions and their feeling of safety in thecommunity. The affronts of face-to-face discrimination can prompt anassessment of the self as old, with a subsequent move from a positive toa negative ageing experience. This also suggests that ageism is acomplex phenomenon that is socially reproduced as a result of peopleinternalising a denial of their own ageing because of the ageistassumptions and associations in our language and culture which areplayed out in everyday interactions.

The research also shows how ageism may vary in the intensity withwhich it is experienced, the older persons responses to it, and in theway in which they construct their understanding of such experiences.These preliminary findings from a small sample, which may not betypical of the larger population, provide only a tip-of-the-icebergview of what ageism means to older people, and how they experience


it. Yet, the accounts here illustrate that social attitudes about ageismcan be problematic for older people. This study shows that althoughvarious forms of stereotyping and discrimination may impact on theirlives, older people may not have the words or perceive the need toexpress these experiences as discrimination based on their age.Simultaneously, elders may be reluctant to classify those experiences asageism for various reasons. Some of those reasons may be that they donot perceive older people as being markedly different from othermarginalised groups. They do not classify themselves as old, sotherefore seek ways in which to dissociate themselves from ageiststereotypes and behaviours. The study also shows that older peoplemay internalise concepts of old age in which they believe that certainolder people may deserve to be treated as old. Further research nowneeds to clarify the process by which this internalisation process occursand is shaped by political and social arrangements.

The results reveal the importance for researchers to understand andarticulate the real experiences of older people and to recognise that forolder people to understand ageism is dependent upon them developingan awareness of being treated as old. This may explain why perhapsthere has been a less visible social movement against ageism, andtherefore older peoples awareness of issues of discrimination aroundage may be less known. Some elders may firmly believe that it is bestjust to accept what happens and try to get on with their lives and notdisrupt the status quo. Although they may encounter and recognisestereotyping of older people and witness or experience instances ofdiscrimination, they accept these with resignation and a sense ofpowerlessness to act in those circumstances, or to prevent suchsituations from occurring. They may believe that older people do nothave social power to change their situations so it is best simply to acceptthem and not make things worse for themselves by acting up.

In contrast, some older people work in both subtle and direct waysto change ageist stereotypes and discriminatory practices. They enacta new image of ageing people , challenge stereotypical notions of olderpeople and educate others about positive images of ageing. They chipaway at societal images of old people, which seem to others to be aninsurmountable obstacle. By focusing on the struggle over ageism intheir own lives, these older people are making a contribution to thetransformation of older peoples images, and to the creation of a climatein which ageism can be named and critically analysed in order todeconstruct it, identify its sources and causes, and determine ways inwhich it can be changed. Recent public commentators in the mediaboth in Australia and elsewhere are predicting that the current activist


groups of older people may be setting the scene for the baby boomersto create a politically correct agenda centred on the notion of ageism.Only time will show whether a similar study in the future will revealthat the word ageism is more widely recognised among older people,and that its consequences are neither acceptable nor to be accom-modated.

Acknowledgements

The study was funded by an Australian Research Council grant. We wouldlike to thank all the informants who participated in this study.

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Accepted September Address for correspondence:Victor Minichiello, School of Health, University of New England,Armidale, New South Wales, Australiae-mail : vminichi!metz.une.edu.au

Documents

Perceptions and Consequences of Ageism[1]