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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Demography, economics and the study of old age: "bad science" and ageist knowledge | | Author(s) | Gail Wilson |
| Journal title | Health Care in Later Life, vol 2, no 4, November 1997 |
| Pages | pp 260-270 |
| Keywords | Demography ; Economics ; Ageism ; Sexual equality ; Racism. |
| Annotation | In most parts of the world, practitioners and policy makers who work with older people operate within ageist societies. In the United Kingdom (UK), for instance, negative perceptions of the user, patient or client group rub off on those who work with them. This ageism is constantly reinforced by the way that knowledge, which passes as scientific, is generated and presented. This article discusses ageist, sexist and racist biases within demography and economics. These disciplines are the last bastions of modernist social science. In both subjects, the mainstream is quantitative and apparently wholly rational. However, the 'crises' of population ageing can be seen to be largely fabrications. They are the products of disciplines that do not consider the way that social prejudices bias the production of knowledge. Detailed consideration of the crises shows that, although older people are portrayed as responsible for these changes, they are in reality only minor players. More responsible, less ageist 'science' would be a contribution to improving text books and training courses and ultimately also to the self-esteem of professionals and their service users. |
| Accession Number | CPA-980212239 A |
| Classmark | S8: W: B:TOB: TM8: TMG |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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