ABSTRACT
Our social fabric, our relationships, obligations and entitlements are structured around age membership without it being widely recognized as a cause of concern. The basic observation that age is often an accurate proxy is not sufficient on its own to set age discrimination apart from race and gender discrimination, however. Discrimination scholars are often reluctant to tolerate race or gender discrimination in cases where gender and race are accurate proxies for risky behavior or likeliness to commit crime, for instance. Ageism, Confort argues, 'is the notion that people cease to be people, cease to be the same people or become people of a distinct and inferior kind, by virtue of having lived a specified number of years'. Age discrimination is often underpinned by crude and negative stereotypes about the aged, which then guide decisions relating to hiring, firing and promotion. Macnicol and Butler mainly describe cases of discrimination that are related to the process of 'ageing'.
