Synonyms
Definition
Age discrimination refers to behaviors that unfairly discriminate against individuals and groups, either positively or negatively, on the basis of actual or perceived age, acting either implicitly or explicitly, and expressed at either the individual or institutional level. Age discrimination may thus be conceptualized as the behavioral component of the broader attitudinal variable that is ageism, whereas age prejudice represents the countervailing affective component.
Key Concepts and Components
The definition of age discrimination in this chapter incorporates five concepts, including the ways that the age construct may be operationalized, the valence of ageist outcomes, the target’s age, the ways by which ageist outcomes may be measured, and the level at which age discrimination may be expressed. These five concepts are summarized in Table 1 and further delineated by components.
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Marcus, J. (2015). Age Discrimination. In: Pachana, N. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geropsychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_195-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_195-1
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