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Ageism: Conceptualizing and Contrasting Age-Related Discrimination

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Reduced Inequalities

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

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Synonyms

Age-based discrimination; Ageism; Ageist; Age-related bias

Definitions

Age-related discrimination is considered every discrimination based on age. As discrimination, it is commonly based on stereotypes related to age classes and on prejudices about age, such as job skills, physical attributes, or mind-set. Age-related discrimination includes biases on age, whatever the age, although a prevalence is attributed to biases on older people especially. Different from other social conditions of inequalities, aging is likely to be experienced by everyone, and, for this reason, issues connected ageism could potentially involve all human beings. In social sciences, the first definition of ageism was made by Butler (1969), who defined it as “a form of bigotry we now tend to overlook: age discrimination or ageism, prejudice by one age group toward other age groups” (Butler 1969: 243). The European Commission defines age discrimination as “differences of treatment between different...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Asian and North African Studies, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy

    Lucia Cicero

Authors
  1. Lucia Cicero
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Correspondence to Lucia Cicero .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. European School of Sustainability Science and Research, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Institute for Interdisciplinary Research, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

  3. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo University, Passo Fundo, Brazil

    Luciana Brandli

  4. The University of Passo Fundo, Passo Fundo, Brazil

    Amanda Lange Salvia

  5. Istinye University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Pinar Gökçin Özuyar

  6. University of Chester, Chester, UK

    Tony Wall

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Business Administration, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (UFRPE), Recife, Brazil

    Daniele Vieira

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Cicero, L. (2021). Ageism: Conceptualizing and Contrasting Age-Related Discrimination. In: Leal Filho, W., Marisa Azul, A., Brandli, L., Lange Salvia, A., Gökçin Özuyar, P., Wall, T. (eds) Reduced Inequalities. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95882-8_20

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