Evidence of inequality - Age Flashcards
Workplace
Barron and Norris
uggests that young people and 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.
Workplace
Johnson
Suggested that ageism occurs in the workplace in 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.
Workplace
Ritzer
young people are often on zero hour contracts and in what Ritzer calls ‘McJobs’ (unstimulating, low-wage job with few benefits, especially in a service industry).
Workplace
Mac an Ghail
found that once they’d been made redundant from their steel works job the men in his study felt a loss of identity from their tight knit communities associated with their job. Their loss of role as a breadwinner led to them feeling a loss of status and identity.
Media
Cohen
Discussed negative labelling of youths in the media E.g. the Mods and Rockers. He stated that they are labelled as ‘folk devils’ who threaten the basic morals of society. This can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy where youths ‘live down to their label’.
Media
Thornton
Expanded the work of Cohen but studied youth ravers in the 90s. She said that the deviance occurring was amplified by the media creating a moral panic around drug taking.
Media
Griffin
Stated that youths are labelled by the media in 3 ways:
Dysfunctional (meaning they don’t ‘function’ effectively), Suffering a Deficit (they act hard-done by e.g. financially due to increased tuition fees) and as Deviant (meaning they are norm and law breaking). This can create a self-fulfilling prophecy and also negative treatment from the general public / by those in ‘power’.
Media
Landis
Supports the findings of Age Concern and 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 - mentally deficient
- feisty old woman - sickly old person
- depressed or lonely - having wisdom
- busybody - having a second childhood
Media
Carrigan and Szmigin
State that older people are ignored in media advertising and when they are included they are stereotyped and presented as a caricature of an elderly person - They are presented as ‘smelly and incontinent’ and in need of support meaning they are seen as dependent on others.
Media
Postman
Found that the idea of childhood has begun to disappear as children interact more and more with the media. He argued that children are sexualised in the media and that the media creates a world in which adults and children share the same music, sports, language, literature and films. He further emphasised this lack of difference between children and adults through clothing. For example, little girls in high heels and adult men wearing trainers.
Media
Carrigan and Szmigin
Studied depictions of the elderly in the media and advertising - THey suggested that whilst older consumers have grown in number and affluence in the UK, they are less likely to be portrayed in advertisements than younger people. They also stated that old people are featured as caricatures and are labelled as smelly and incontinent
Media
Sontag
Suggests that there is a double standard of aging, especially in television, whereby women are required to be youthful throughout their media careers and men are not.
Health
Greengross
argues that the NHS is guilty of institutional ageism because older patients are treated differently from the young, denied clinical treatments etc.
Health
The Guardian
THE UK health care system is institutionally ageist - Younger patients are treated differently and given clear ‘care plans’. Often anything offered is ‘end of life’ care. By 2037 it is anticipated we will go from 6.5 million family carers to 9 million due to our ageing generation.
Health
Human Rights Watch
Claim that older people in England are at “serious risk of harm” due to poor social care assessments
