Immune to ageism? Men's perceptions of age-based discrimination in everyday contexts

Abstract

Despite long-term, conceptually and theoretically refined discussions, the phenomenon of ageism still remains empirically under-developed. To better understand the diversity of ageism, its contextual variations and gender-specific dynamics in people's daily lives, this study focuses on how different interactional contexts shape men's perceptions of ageism. Using data from 67 thematic personal interviews with 23 middle and working class men aged 50-70, this study contributes to the sorely lacking, empirically based and nuanced understanding of how ageism is experienced, and adds to the research on the internalization of ageism which to date has primarily focused on older women's experiences. Key findings are as follows: 1) men are not totally immune to ageism, but rather, 2) the experiences and interpretations of ageism are structured by the interactional context in question, 3) acts and expressions interpreted as discriminative in one context become defused in others, and that 4) in family contexts positive ageism represents a naturalized order of things within intergenerational relations. The study contributes to the existing body of work on age negotiations and on the ways in which chronological age as a cultural resource functions in interaction. It also underlines that adopting a gender and context sensitive approach into ageism opens up promising avenues for further conceptual development.