ABSTRACT
Poverty is both a matter of perspective and reality. How an individual views his or her life situation as being poor is affected by personal perceptions of selfworth and how society views his or her worth. Ageism, discrimination based only on age, greatly influences how the old are viewed by society. This view is reflected in public policy. How the old view themselves is reflected by their attitude toward entitlement. An individual’s life experiences also provide a measure for his or her perception of poverty. Gladys’s previous experiences with poverty allow her to feel better off than how others might perceive her situation. Because her children are independent and she has no spouse, she is freed from considering their needs along with her own, which also influences her perception. Also, her view of self and old age affects her vision of what she deserves from society. Based on these factors, Gladys feels she is better off than in other periods of her life, thus she asks for very little from the society she interfaces with daily, even though she is at the poverty level.
