Why do we put the possessive “our” before us when we talk about young and old people? Dr. Vânia de la Fuente-Núñez, international expert in healthy aging, has the answer: ageism. His latest book revolves around this type of age discrimination, The age trap (Penguin Random House) in which it reveals how installed we have certain stereotypes, how perverse the functioning is and what the effects are – even on physical health – on the people who suffer from them, who can end up becoming that archetype in a way unconscious. De la Fuente was responsible for the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Campaign against Ageism and is co-author of the historic United Nations World Ageism Report published in 2021.
Starting at the beginning, what is ageism? Maybe there are people who don’t know.
It is the ism that generates biases and disadvantages based on age. It is made up of stereotypes (our way of thinking); prejudices (what we feel) and discrimination (our way of acting). I am a little frustrated by the definition of the Royal Academy of Language (RAE) because it only mentions the aspect of discrimination and uses a word for the definition that is ageist: elderly.
In the attempt to define ageism we fall into ageism.
At least we have a word.
Does this detail reveal to us that there is less social awareness than about other discriminations such as machismo or racism?
Of course yes. Not having a word has not helped raising awareness. If there is no word it is as if reality does not exist. It has also not been made visible because it affects two groups that currently occupy the lowest status in society: the young and the elderly.
Is there an intersection between discriminations?
Yes. If we accumulate several, there is a greater chance that they will intertwine and generate more serious barriers and more serious damage to people. For example, we see ageism and sexism at the same time clearly in the work environment. Eight out of ten women in 40 countries describe ageism in their careers with peaks at the beginning of their career and when they approach retirement.
Equally internalized are the behaviors linked to young people, such as lack of responsibility, superficiality, adventure… Is that ageism that operates at the other extreme of age less visible?
It has been less studied and one of the difficulties that I have found in working in this field, trying to involve youth organizations, is that there is difficulty in associating that an instance of discrimination has been due to age. This exercise of awareness is missing, of realizing that what they suffer is a consequence of ageism. We need to delve into studies that explore what impact it has on the health and well-being of young people.
Ageism directly damages health, he maintains in his book.
What the evidence we have demonstrates is that the damage is not only what people can intuit at first, that is, an impact on self-esteem or access to work. We are not aware of the impacts beyond: it is associated with earlier death, worse physical health (limitation in doing daily activities or recovering from an injury), worse mental health or can increase cognitive decline. It can also even affect our biological aging (epigenetic age) and is related to a worse quality of life. There is extensive research on the topic that shows all the impacts at the level of our individual health. And furthermore, we know that ageism harms us as a society: it divides us and confronts us based on our age. These supposed frictions are generated between young and old people that are not productive and often are not even real.
Lastly, it has economic costs. It has been studied in the United States, although not in Spain. It has been seen that it costs us money: discrimination against people over 50 years of age led to losses of 850,000 million dollars, which means that the country could have been 4% richer if older people had not had barriers to work the desired time. This is only in the work environment. It has also been estimated in the healthcare environment: it led to an excess of spending of 63,000 million euros per year also in North America.
It would be something like: “if what happens in old age is to be sick, why am I going to exercise, eat or sleep well,” right?
A very perverse thing happens, because we end up internalizing stereotypes. For example, assuming that old age is a period of illness can lead to unhealthy habits such as not exercising, not taking medication, or not eating well. But there are other reasons why these health problems arise. As ageism creates barriers to accessing health care, biases appear that influence the diagnosis and treatment we receive. For example, whether or not we are included in a certain clinical trial, or if they give us access to a certain psychological therapy that can totally change how an illness is experienced.
It is common to hear doctors say that “they are things of age.” What is the impact of phrases of this type on the person who receives them?
I suppose it contributes to this process of internalizing stereotypes. It can push you to assume that what you have to do is be sick because it goes hand in hand with age. In Spain they are very common expressions: one in four older people has seen a health professional tell them that what they present is typical of their age.
Is the health system not taking good care of the stage of old age?
He’s not doing it. First, due to differential access to resources. It is seen more clearly in the prescription of pharmacological treatments in older patients at the mental health level. There is a tendency to do that when they could follow psychotherapy treatment. Sometimes it is assumed that depression or suicidal tendencies are normal or logical.
Suicide rates in older people are the highest.
Yes, but it is not talked about because it is not the first cause of death in old age. But people over 75 have the highest suicide rate and there are no prevention campaigns at this stage. Partly because this ageism prevents us from valuing life in the same way as we would with someone younger.
We end up internalizing stereotypes: assuming that old age is a period of illness can lead to unhealthy habits such as not exercising, not taking medication or not eating well.
Is the fear of aging a consequence of that ageism?
It is a consequence of a calculation of things. We have two titans that have made time become a nightmare: the cosmetics industry and digital platforms. There is data that shows that 10-year-old girls start beauty routines. And, on the other hand, people who are on the border between middle age and old age can become the oldest against older people. In a way it is an adaptive measure: there is so much social stigma to old age that people do everything possible not to be associated with this age group. But it is not a sustainable strategy and it is generating a lot of damage because it is not allowing people to consider their own old age in a planned way, seeing the opportunities.
Regarding the platforms, there is a tendency to be very concerned about the image and the image is an image of a young person. It is curious that youth is praised, but an image of youth in the abstract because young people suffer a lot of ageism.
Is there a business that is based on promising eternal youth?
It is a very lucrative business. Generates a lot of money. But the advertising that has spread this anti-aging discourse is changing a lot. I don’t know if because they are looking for a more inclusive model or to achieve greater profits. It seems like they are moving towards a more inclusive model. Maybe because the senior market is getting bigger.
And how do ageism and the capitalist system get along?
The big focus on productivity in the work environment doesn’t help. It associates a person’s value with their work role and we are less likely to have a work role when we are younger and later in old age.
It is the only discrimination that affects all people.
And, furthermore, it is the only one that can affect us at different times in life. It can even affect us and then stop doing it. Because of the boomerang effect of the stereotypes we use: I can discriminate and then that turns against me when I reach this stage. It is paradoxical that we do that. Ageism is also the only discrimination that affects white men, who fare well in other isms.
It’s a little absurd that in our minds we restrict relationships to our age cohort. We are missing out on a whole world of possible relationships.
Places the origin of age segregation in industrialization. Explain yourself.
With the rise of industrialization, age has been used to determine entry and exit from the educational environment or the age at which someone can access retirement. A segmentation by age has been created that has then become an institutional segmentation and has permeated the way we build cities. We have done it consciously or unconsciously, but we have accepted as a society very lightly, for example, that elderly people with dependency are sent to places outside the city.
Life seems to be configured in three watertight parts: education, work and retirement, and that does not make sense in societies in the 21st century. The model is still stuck there and does not allow us this meeting between people of different ages. Not even in the work environment, which is deeply segregated.
He says that social relations are marked by age segregation. In other words, we only hang out, or we hang out more, with those our age. Why is it so hard to have friends or a partner of different ages?
Partly because this is not favored organically. The way a store is set up is going to influence what we buy; and in the same way, the way a city or town is configured marks who we relate to. And these meetings are not encouraged. It’s not that people don’t want to. 90% of participants in a survey carried out in many countries were receptive to having friends from another generation but only 50% did.
In the social organization, division by generations is imposed. It’s common.
Do you think you are the same as people your same age? If the answer is no, what makes you think that you will have less things in common than with other people? The only thing we share if we were born at the same time is probably historical episodes. People who were 20 years old in 2020 experienced a different university stage. But that’s as far as it goes. This does not mean that we share characteristics or personality; that we have everything in common; or the tastes.
Do intergenerational relationships have benefits?
I try to show initiatives that exist and that could help people make these meetings they want. For example, many people do not know that if they move to a city they could access an affordable module to live with an elderly person. Relationships have the direct benefit of allowing us to address ageism if they are well planned. Benefits for health and well-being in old age. It’s a little absurd that in our minds we restrict relationships to our age cohort. We are missing out on a whole world of possible relationships.
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