Publication

What’s the law got to do with it? Social interpretation patterns of ageism and older adults access to services and goods

Hopf, Stefan
Citation
Abstract
In Western consumer and service-based economies, access to services and goods is an essential part of social participation. For older people, this participation can be undermined by ageism, for example in access to health, financial and transport services. One way to counteract ageism is through anti-discrimination legislation. However, there is no EU-wide prohibition of age discrimination in access to services and goods. Consequently, different or no regulations exist in the various member states. This is also the case in the two countries analysed in this study, namely Austria and Ireland. While there is no national prohibition of age discrimination in access to services and goods in Austria, this form of discrimination is prohibited in Ireland. Such differences in legislation may be reflected in the way individuals experience and talk about discrimination. This thesis therefore examines how the presence or absence of legal prohibitions of age discrimination in access to services and goods shapes older people's experiences and narratives of age discrimination in access to health, finance and transport services. Drawing on the so-called interpretation pattern analysis, the role of law in the interpretations of ageism was examined based on interviews with 29 older people, 12 expert interviews, two focus groups with a total of 12 representatives of advocacy and interest groups, and the analysis of legal and policy documents. The analysis of this data resulted in the reconstruction of four interpretation patterns of ageism namely: (i) ‘ageism as objectifiable disadvantage’, (ii) ‘ageism as denial of recognition as a person’, (iii) ‘ageism as lack of consideration’, and (iv) ‘ageism as denial of social recognition’. The discussion of the findings shows that the law assumes a hegemonic role in the constitutive dimension, that is, in its ability to influence how people think and talk about their experiences of ageism. In instrumental terms, however, the data reflected an alienation from the law, as the older people I interviewed did not regard the law as an accessible solution for combating discrimination. Furthermore, the analysis shows that age discrimination is part of the social practices that socially construct aging and older age, as experiences of ageism mediate the transition from the so-called third to the fourth age and undermine related relations of recognition.
Funder
Publisher
University of Galway
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International