ABSTRACT
In 1851 novelist Caroline Kirkland published an eloquent attack on negative attitudes toward old age, focusing on society's refusal to allow older women to wear bright colors and youthful fashions. The separate forces of feminism and the commercial beauty culture were behind the changes in society's perception of older women. The denigration of old age reinforced the value of youthfumess, and old age acquired the status of a stigma. Geared to youth, mass-market production continues to support youthfulness as an ideal by focusing on products that youth feel they need. One's personal response to the preference for youth may depend on inner and outer sources of support, sociologist David Riesman suggested. Biological factors and societal beliefs about appropriateness account for a person's ability to perform certain social roles. In Captains of Consciousness Stuart Ewen argued that the economy's production and consumption needs in the post-Civil War years supported the establishment of youthfulness as a cultural value.
