Rethinking Ageism

Augie Fleras, Ph.D. (1980), Victoria University of Wellington, NZ, is a retired professor of Sociology at the University of Waterloo. He has published extensively across the field of social inequality, including two Brill publications: A Reckoning with Racism (2023) and Canadian Multiculturalism @50 (2021).

Preface: Ageism Matters



PART 1: Ageism: The Idea



1 Ageism in the Pandemic Age: A Fraught Reality

 1 Introduction: The Pandemic of Ageism

 2 Moving the Yardsticks?

 3 Argument, Organization, and Contribution



2 Surveying Ageism: Global Perspectives, Public Perceptions

 1 Introduction: “You Are a Waste of Space”

 2 Surveying the Age-Scape: “Ageism Never Grows Old”

 3 Growing Older and Being Old: Diverse Narratives, Mixed Messages



3 Conceptualizing Ageism: A Riddle, a Mystery, an Enigma

 1 Introduction: Framing the Puzzle

 2 Defining Ageism

 3 Constituents of Ageism: Prejudice, Stereotypes, Discrimination

 4 Problematizing the Puzzle of Ageism



4 Intersectionalities of Age: Compounding Ageism

 1 Introduction: Ageism in Complexity

 2 Intersectionality as Lens

 3 Gender X Age/Ageing: A Gendered Ageism

 4 A Racialized Ageism/Ageing

 5 Indigeneity and Ageism

 6 Class, Status, and Ageism

 7 Homophobia and Ageism



PART 2: Ageism in Action



5 Expressing Ageism: Individual, Institutional, Societal

 1 Introduction: Different Levels, Multiple Sources, Diverse Manifestations

 2 Individual Ageisms

 3 Institutional Ageism: Structural and Systemic

 4 Societal Ageism

 5 “Out There” or “In Here”: Ageisms in Canada or an Ageist Canada?



6 Institutional Ageism: Workplace and Health Care

 1 Introduction: “More Than a Glitch”

 2 Workplace Ageism: Navigating an Ageist Work World

 3 Ageism in Healthcare

 4 Long-Term Care Homes as Total Ageist Institutions



7 Ageist Media, Media Ageism

 1 Introduction: Media Misrepresentations

 2 Misrepresenting Minorities

 3 Ageism in the Media: Media Representations of Age and Ageing

 4 Deconstructing Media Frames of the Elderly



PART 3: Beyond Ageism



8 Challenging Ageism: Rethinking Anti-Ageism

 1 Introduction: Beyond Ageism

 2 Tallying the Toll

 3 Anti-Ageism Interventions: Different Levels, Different Outcomes

 4 Toward an Inclusive Anti-Ageism Approach: Changing the Culture



9 Towards an Age-Inclusive Canada: The Reset

 1 Introduction: Beyond Ageism?

 2 Changing the Lens

 3 Shifting the Discourses

 4 A Rights-Based, Age-Inclusive Society: A Re-imagining



Index