ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses the geographies of children and older people. It explains that stereotypes and assumptions about appropriate activities and spaces for people in particular age groups are produced by ageism, a pervasive form of discrimination in western societies which is not widely recognized. Physiological age involves the health, fitness and visible appearance of the body. In social geography, age is no longer viewed as a series of static categories into which individuals can be grouped, under the assumption that sharing a certain number of birthdays means they have specific experiences in common. Instead, it is recognized that people are lives a changing life course, rather than a fixed life cycle associated with predictable changes in behavior and perception at certain times. The chapter explores that race is prominent in public discourses as a source and symbol of social disintegration and conflict.
