Strengths Of Ageism

In this paper, the role of a social worker will be addressed. A Human Service professional has, in its hands, the responsibilities in the life of the clients and families they meet. The tremendous and arduous responsibilities they take on include, but are not limited to, the well-being and care of people and their communities. Such roles can be helping others manage the care of a family member, assisting individuals experiencing problems with family relations and conflicts, dealing with changes that come with growing old, aiding those suffering mental illness and or those individuals struggling with addictions. Briefly

Social work practice is also known as a type of practice that is used to help and assist individuals that are struggling while under the condition of welfare and social issues. There are multiple social work practice fields and centers that many social workers can assist clients in, such as substance abuse centers, domestic violence centers, and child welfare centers. A resourceful tool that can be used for social workers to help understand and connect theories and social work concepts and tie them with social work practical tasks. This model is called a personal practice model. When assisting a client, regardless of what field the social worker is taking part in, it is important to know more about the client. They should be understood through different social and psychological theories, cultural competencies, and personal and professional values.

Ageism is a form of discrimination. Ageism is being prejudice against someone because of their age. Normally you will see this form of discrimination against the elderly, but this can happen to anyone at any age. You will normally see this type of discrimination in the work place. You will find that it is harder for on older person to find a job, because

Ageism and stereotypes of older people can have an important impact on their physical health, mental health and overall wellbeing. Negative stereotypes of older people being dependent and decrepit can be internalized and become self-fulfilling. These ageist thoughts and stereotypes can lead to older people not seeking health care in general and to not get treatment appropriate for their illness or medical condition due to their age and not based on any other factor.

Social work professions need to understand the importance of how individuals interact both with other people and their environment, to have an understanding how individuals are affected by these interactions (Rogers, p. 2). According to Rogers (2016), “Social workers are knowledgeable about human behavior across the life course; the range of social systems in which people live; and the ways social systems promote or deter people in maintaining or achieving health and well-being. Social workers apply theories and knowledge from the liberal arts to understand biological, social, cultural, psychological, and spiritual development (p. 2). Their work with clients begins with assessments to evaluations of intervention and is based in and supports of the core value system of the profession.

“Ageism has been called the ultimate prejudice, the last discrimination, the cruelest rejection,” Stein (unpublished). We as a people have defeated for the most part racism and sexism, but we have allowed the third great “ism” to remain unchallenged. “This widely practiced prejudice has gone on for generations and is known as ageism,” (Palmore, Erdman, Ballagh (1999). By definition, according to Webster’s Dictionary, it is discrimination against person’s of a certain age group. Ageism includes both positive affect and a negative connotation with any given age group. It is predominately seen as a reflection on the elderly. Positive aspects of ageism on the elderly include medical care, discounts and tax

Ageism is defined as “prejudice or discrimination against a particular age-group and especially the elderly” (Webster). On page 4, Virginia says, “Mrs. Otis and I are from Whistle Stop … her son and daughter-in-law had a fit for her to come and live at the nursing home, and they asked me to come with her. I told them I’d stay with her for a while—she doesn’t know it yet, but I’m going back home just as soon as she gets settled in good.” The family is actually dumping her and they do that because she is getting old. They do not want to take care of either Mrs. Otis or Mrs. Threadgood. Another example of ageism can be found on page 288. One day Evelyn Couch drives to go shopping, she has to wait a while for a parking space to open up. When a car finally leaves, a group of young girls take the empty spot. Evelyn said, “Excuse me, but I was waiting for that space and you pulled right in front of me.” The girl looked at her with a smirk and said, “Let’s face it, lady, I’m younger and faster than you

Ageism is prejudice against a group who is of old age and discriminated against solely based on their age. This group is usually men and women whose age is 40 or older. It has a great influence today. Society at times views older men and women as a liabilities and or incompetent to perform tasks that younger individuals can perform accordingly

Ageism is any attitudes, actions, or institutional structure which subordinates a person or group because of their age or any assignment of roles in society purely on the basis of age. It typically reflects a prejudice in society against older adults. The concept of aging varies across different cultures as different countries have varying demographic statistics such as Japan and Italy having significant part of their population above the age of 60 versus most countries in Africa who have significant parts of their population below the age of 30. Most research on ageism is done on children, adolescents, or young adults with few studies on actual older adults. Age is increasingly becoming a more positive concept, yet older people are still stereotyped. The three theories in sociology about aging are disengagement, activity, and continuity.

Ageism consists of the stereotypical and discriminatory viewpoints placed upon an individual based solely on age (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2018). Stereotypes generalize large groups of people primarily on the behaviors or appearances of just a small percentage of people within that group (Cambridge, 2017). Discrimination is the act of treating someone unfairly based upon certain personal attributes (Cambridge, 2017). Ageist viewpoints create a preconceived divide between the technological abilities of the younger and older generations.

In the generalist social work practice, a social worker is a change agent due to the expansive and complex umbrella of social and human services and roles. A change agent works to promote positive changes for the well-being of an individual, family, group, organization or community. In order to fulfill the tasks of a social worker, one should be trained and equipped with a wide variety of skills: such as setting appropriate boundaries, possessing and utilizing self-awareness and the ability to counsel or advocate for clients. In addition to many skills, the generalist social work practice includes a surplus of methods to either prevent or intervene when necessary. A method often utilized by social workers is the person-in-environment conceptualization. The person-in-environment perspective considers factors, such as familial or economic, beyond the individual to better understand the client’s behaviors or situation. Another method is the strengths perspective. The strength-based perspective focuses on the client’s or client system’s positive qualities to build upon those capabilities. And the recognition of strengths helps to achieve goals in a more client-led approach. Generalist practitioners are professionals with a wide range of knowledge and a repertoire of diverse skills in order to enhance the social functioning of all within society.

Ageism is the discrimination against an individual or group due to age. While ageism is a real problem, many people tend to ignore it because it is so often practiced, people don’t even realize it is happening. The forms of ageism range from the very obvious to the more discrete, almost unrecognizable discrimination. While ageism is evident in all age groups, it tends to be more dominant among the elderly and teenagers or young adults.

Ageism as defined by Merriam-Webster (2016), “prejudice or discrimination against a particular age-group and especially the elderly”. A study conducted by Nelson (2016), studied the effect of ageism and negative stereotypes which older adults

“Ageism, or agism, is a prejudice or discrimination against an individual or group in society on the basis of one's conception of age. A prejudice is a preconceived mentality, judgement, or opinion that may have no reason nor basis. Discrimination is the expression of prejudice resulting in differential treatment of different groups or individuals in society. This may include unjust behaviors, actions, language(s) and degrading terms, or limitations restricting another's rights. A person who participates in and supports ageism is called an ageist.” (Tse)

Knowing and having an understanding of what ageing stands for, remains an important step, growing-up or growing older and ageism are theories about older individuals. Ageism includes preconceptions that elderly are categorized for their age and perceived as weak, and incapable of performing tasks and needy of others (Quadagno, 2014). Another view about elderly individuals is the way they are looked down on by the younger society, i.e. elderly are not as intelligent as their younger competitive working force. People fear what they do not know and do not understand. Age transpires as something that must be lived through in order to understand what ageing means; looking back on one’s life and seeing accomplishments made,