Anti-Ageism for Gerontologists

We argue that gerontologists are products of our ageist culture and that we both perpetuate ageism and suffer from internalized ageism ourselves. We make ageist comments, deny our own age, fail to teach students to recognize and confront ageism, and use language that otherizes and categorizes older...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of aging & social policy 2024-09, Vol.36 (5), p.721-731
Main Authors: Morrow-Howell, Nancy, Kunkel, Suzanne, Gendron, Tracey, Jarrott, Shannon E., Andreoletti, Carrie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic writing
Age discrimination
age stereotype
Aged
Ageism - psychology
Geriatricians
Geriatrics - education
Gerontology
Humans
internalized ageism
Language usage
Older people
reframing aging
Scholarship
Skills
structural ageism
Students
Teaching
Work skills
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Summary:We argue that gerontologists are products of our ageist culture and that we both perpetuate ageism and suffer from internalized ageism ourselves. We make ageist comments, deny our own age, fail to teach students to recognize and confront ageism, and use language that otherizes and categorizes older people. Gerontologists are in ideal positions to confront ageism through our scholarly work, teaching, and community engagement. However, we suggest that, despite our deep gerontological knowledge, we do not have enough awareness, knowledge, and skills for taking anti-ageism actions in these arenas of our professional lives. We offer some suggestions for confronting ageism, including self-study, increasing content on ageism in the classroom and beyond, pointing out ageist language and behaviors to colleagues and students, working with diversity, equity and inclusion offices on campus, and giving careful consideration to our research approaches and academic writing. To go forward, we must increase awareness about ageism and gain skills in promoting anti-ageism.
ISSN:0895-9420
1545-0821
1545-0821
DOI:10.1080/08959420.2023.2194816