Abstract
Ageism is a prevalent but often unnoticed prejudice that can have deleterious effects on older adults’ well-being. In this chapter, we first describe the origin of ageism by examining age stereotypes. We show that these stereotypes are complex and can include prescriptions for older adults’ behavior. Next, we discuss how ageism can take either hostile or benevolent forms, and then examine the implications for older people’s subjective (felt) age and for their well-being. We conclude with suggestions for ways to reduce age stereotyping and ageism in perceivers and ways for targets of ageism to cope with age prejudice.
This research was supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) awarded to ALC and by SSHRC Doctoral (JES, JLF) and Postdoctoral (CE) awards.
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Chasteen, A.L., Schiralli, J.E., Le Forestier, J.M., Erentzen, C. (2022). Age Stereotypes and Ageism as Facets of Subjective Aging. In: Palgi, Y., Shrira, A., Diehl, M. (eds) Subjective Views of Aging. International Perspectives on Aging, vol 33. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11073-3_13
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