Publisher's Synopsis
This collection of nineteen chapters explores ageism in work and employment from various angles and comes up with some surprisingly optimistic conclusions. Its three main parts cover the nature and causes and the experience and the practice of ageism, and possible remedies and future prospects for it. - - Its main focus is the ageism directed at older people but serious attention is also paid to ageism as it affects younger ones and 'chronological misfits' in between. Dimensions of ageism considered include economic, educational, historic, international, legal, managerial, organizational, political, physiological, psychological and sociological ones. A wide range of policy and research issues are addressed and chapter authors draw upon research data from the UK, the European Union and Australasia. Ageism is found to be a near-universal phenomenon, but some societies are shown to have more constructive and thoughtful attitudes towards age and relationships between the generations than others. - - The main conclusion of the editors is that longer lives, greater wealth and growing awareness of ageism as an issue are together pushing society towards more informed, diverse, discriminating and constructive choices. -
