Title

The language of ageism: Why we need to use words carefully

Authors

Tracey L.  Gendron, PhD,  /E.  Ayn  Welleford, PhD, / Jennifer  Inker, MS,  / John T. White, MS

Author Affiliations

Department of Gerontology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond

Publication Information

Gerontological Society of America

Date of Publication

1 December 2016

Series/Report no.

The Gerontologist, Volume 56, Issue 6

Key words

Ageism, Microaggression, Communication and language-based discrimination, Linguistic encoding

Abstract

Purpose:

Language carries and conveys meaning which feeds assumptions and judgments that can lead to the development of stereotypes and discrimination. As a result, this study closely examined the specific language that is used to communicate attitudes and perceptions of aging and older adults.

Design and Methods:

We conducted a qualitative study of a twitter assignment for 236 students participating in a senior mentoring program. Three hundred fifty-four tweets were qualitatively analyzed to explore language-based age discrimination using a thematic analytic approach.

Results:

Twelve percent of the tweets (n = 43) were found to contain discriminatory language. Thematic analysis of the biased tweets identified 8 broad themes describing language-based age discrimination: assumptions and judgments, older people as different, uncharacteristic characteristics, old as negative, young as positive, infantilization, internalized ageism, and internalized microaggression.

Implications:

The language of ageism is rooted in both explicit actions and implicit attitudes which make it highly complex and difficult to identify. Continued examination of linguistic encoding is needed in order to recognize and rectify language-based age discrimination.

주요 내용

언어는 고정 관념과 차별로 이어질 수 있는 assumptions and judgments을 내포한 의미를 전달한다. 이 연구는 노화와 노인에 대한 태도와 인식을 전달하는 데 사용되는 특정 언어를 면밀히 조사했다.

ISSN

17585341

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnv066