Elderly disadvantage Flashcards
workplace
Johnson – Suggested that ageism occurs in the workplace in the UK. Johnson suggests that ageism is institutionalised and embedded in practices and society. Ageism in the workplace is expressed through the stereotypical assumptions about a person’s competency to do a job in relation to their age. Older people find it much more difficult to get a job as they get older and face stereotypes in the workplace.
Barron and Norris - Suggests that the elderly are more likely to be found in the secondary labour market which is defined by low pay, low status, a lack of chance of promotion and few fringe benefits e.g. no access to private pensions etc
health
Greengross - the NHS is guilty of institutional ageism because older patients are treated differently from the young. For example a young person will have a clear ‘care plan’ that includes maintaining links with their family etc but the elderly will be denied clinical treatments and often anything offered will be ‘end of life’ care.
The Royal College of Surgeons and Age UK (2014) - In some areas of the UK no one over the age of 75 is being offered crucial surgery for breast cancer and very few undergo bowel cancer surgery or have knee and hip replacements – despite legislation making this illegal in 2012
media
Landis - identified a number of stereotypes in representations of older people. They were depicted as ‘one-dimensional’ and described in a number of ways such as: grumpy old man, feisty old woman, depressed or lonely, busybody, mentally deficient, sickly old person, having wisdom, having a second childhood
Digital generation gap - causes problems for employment, as older people may be less comfortable using technology than the young who have grown up with it. Also feel unable to cope with changes such as paperless banking and a lack of understanding of popular conversations and activities because they may not be able to access social media.
crime
Financial Times (2015) - The number of over-60s in jail topped 4,000 for the first time on record, more than double the figure 10 years ago. The number of inmates with dementia has risen, while cases of diabetes and hypertension have also soared.
Age UK (2015) of those targeted by fraud scams, the financial loss for older victims (those aged 55 and over) was likely to be nearly twice as much per scam as that for younger age groups.
