Ageism still the last acceptable form of discrimination, researcher says

Assumptions about older people remain deeply embedded in everyday life, from the language we use to the decisions we make at work, says Dr Joanna Hikaka, co-director of the University of Auckland's Centre for Co-Created Ageing Research.

Speaking on the occasion of Age Without Limits Day, Dr Hikaka says ageism involves more than overt insults. It includes negative thoughts, feelings, or behaviours directed at someone based solely on their age.

"Think about ways you might describe older people in your personal or professional lives, and whether any of those comments might be based solely on age and the stereotypes we associate with those things," she says.

While ageism can affect people across generations, Dr Hikaka says older people bear the brunt of it, and describes it as what one colleague called the last socially acceptable form of discrimination.

Much of that discrimination is structural rather than explicit. In workplaces, it shows up in who gets promoted, who is consulted when designing a new product or service, and whose experience is assumed to still have value.

"We miss out on all the opportunity that person could offer us if that's the sort of assumption that we make," she says.

Language plays a role too. Familiar phrases like "grumpy old man" may seem harmless or even affectionate, but Dr Hikaka says they draw on assumptions that flatten individuals into stereotypes and obscure what those people actually bring.

"You might not like someone, and it's not because of their age. It might be because of the way they act or that you don't get on, you don't share the same values," she says. "But often people go straight to grumpy old man, and that's how we describe that person."

Research backs up the cost of those attitudes. A United States study found people with positive views of ageing live on average seven and a half years longer than those with negative ones.

Dr Hikaka says the solution lies in genuinely intergenerational thinking. Older people carry professional and personal expertise that younger generations can learn from, and the reverse is equally true.

"Without working across that spectrum, we're not going to create the most valuable solutions for society," she says.

Listen to a full interview from Dr Hikaka on her research on RNZ.