/p>>An article from Imma Playa
Director of the
It is known by the name of stereotype to the exaggerated perception and with few details, simplified, that one has about a person or group of people who share certain characteristics.
The social stereotypes lead to social categorization, group behaviors prevail over individual ones. Uniformity entails loss of different realities and personalities. Stereotypes are a corset that forces the protagonists to remain anonymous, the person ceases to be an active subject and becomes a complement subject to the category, to the “box” that they have been assigned.
Education, culture, social models and history are at the origins of the creation of these stereotypes. Its influence is decisive and evolves over time, some may disappear and others may be born. We find stereotypes linked to race, religion, politics, gender, sex, age. I’m going to focus on age-related stereotypes.
In our western culture old age is associated with many social stereotypesThis is not the case in African or Asian culture, where the older person is recognized and respected by the community.
The main prejudices that are related to old age are: sick, dependent, generator of public spending on health and social services, digital illiterate, sad, decadent. The image transmitted to us by the media where only youth is praised and they give us advice on how to prolong this golden stage. Advertising does not usually offer images of older people and when it does, they are always related to sanitary products.
We are experiencing a real contradiction, on the one hand there is satisfaction with the increase in life expectancy, we fill our mouths with the success that people can live longer, and prevention programs are activated to delay disability in the last stretch of the cycle vital. One thing is to speak from the general and another is to think about old people, when old age is personalized we tend to disguise ithide it because we all want to get there, but always being “young”.
He ageism It is how the discrimination of people in relation to their chronological age is known, which is marked by our date of birth. However, it must be taken into account that we have another age, which is biological, which is determined by our state of health, the two ages do not always coincide. As the popular saying goes: “Young is he who is healthy, even if he is eighty years old; and old and suffering, although he is twenty ”.
How will the social stereotype of old age evolve? Will discrimination and ageism continue? Will the media continue to ignore older people? There may be changes depending on the demographic evolution and the weight they will have in the pyramidal structure of the population. The market will also focus on responding to this large group.
We must keep in mind that as the proverb says “Youth is the only defect that is cured with age”.