ABSTRACT
The debate on the implications of population ageing goes far beyond macroeconomics and social policy. The portrayal, linguistic and visual of the characteristics and perceived personality traits of older people, plays a key role in constructing responses and expectations of the meaning of an ageing society. One strong and recurring theme in the body of research into ageing and society is the identification of systematic discrimination against, and stereotyping of, older people. The accusation is that ageist attitudes permeate most levels of society. As Bytheway has argued, ageism legitimates the use of chronological age to create sub-groups of people who are then systematically denied the opportunities that other groups enjoy. This then leads to denigration ‘ranging from well-meaning patronage to unambiguous vilification’ (Bytheway 1995. Bytheway asserts that the word ‘old’ is widely associated with scorn and vilification, to be deployed as part of abusive language in conjunction with words such as silly or stupid. He also criticises the frequent use of the word ‘elderly’ in social policy and care literature, even though it may have some positive roots, such as connotations of the word ‘elder’ to denote respect and knowledge. But, in general use elderly is clearly codified and is unhelpful in the way it is used as a blanket reference to all people aged over 65 or 75, in the process ignoring diversity. It is ‘… as though “the elderly” are a group of people who have conspired to place this burden (monetary) upon us’ (Bytheway 1995).
