Microestructural |
The elderly person himself (authorized ageism) |
But we ancients accept the mockery. Partly, out of resignation, and partly because, deep down, we think that “old” really are the others. (N20_G) Until the virus arrived in Brazil, I didn’t feel that old. I was even feeling younger [...] But I soon realized that they were talking about those who are over 60. The old people are us! In my specific case, the old man is me. (N12_G) The politician, who turns 70 next week and is in the group considered to be at greatest risk in this epidemic, said he was willing to die to reactivate the economy. (N1_EM) |
Mesoestructural |
Policy makers and politicians |
In addition, the speeches refer to them with “a paternalism that disguises discrimination, without considering that the vast majority continue to work and make enormous contributions to the country,” says Albala. The mandatory quarantine for those over 75 years of age, she details, which lasted for five months, is an example of this discrimination: “Why was it thought that older people cannot take charge of their health?” (N6_LT) The president of Brazil questioned procedures that have been adopted around the world, such as the closing of schools, and minimized risks of the disease, such as suggesting that control measures be restricted only to the elderly. (N6_FSP) A representative: “I care about all lives! But the lives of those who lived the least worry me more. In fact, I think it is time to clearly establish rules to prioritize the use of available resources: beds, respirators, etc. It’s dark, but it’s necessary!” (N26_FSP) It is true that, in theory, social distancing is general, but, in relation to the elderly, the campaign is radical, with some regional and local governments even declaring a real hunt for old ‘offenders’, just like the dog catcher in search of abandoned dogs, but with the threat of a fine and even imprisonment. (N36_FSP) |
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Health and social institutions |
It is not possible for older people to perceive that their lives will not be prioritized by health and social protection services, nor that discourses that assign different value to the death of a young person or an elderly person be normalized, it cannot be so easily accepted that rights are violated. (N2_MS) |
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Health and social institutions |
Regarding the causes of these prejudices, the specialist maintains that there is a degree of responsibility on the part of the professionals who work with the elderly, particularly in the field of health. [...] communicate that an elderly person has died as if it were a minor loss, not as relevant. We almost come to a objectification of the elderly person, treated as an old and broken object, so that is where the entire vision of the right to life and equality is effectively distorted. (N9_EM) |
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Low acceptance in the labor market as an active worker |
They are stigmatized as professionals with less flexibility in the face of changes, less updating regarding technology and new trends in their areas, in addition to often having more experience and years of work, having higher salaries. (N2_LT) The age prejudice, which already existed with the elderly, has been getting worse with COVID-19. Due to the greater lethality of the disease - 75% of deaths occur among those aged 70 or over -, they are seen by the labor market as vulnerable and more susceptible to absences. (N16_G) |
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Media |
However, the very eyes and ears of viewers, netizens and readers have been shocked by expressions, phrases and headlines disconnected from reality to refer in a paternalistic tone to an age group as diverse as it is heterogeneous: ‘Our older adults’, as if were part of our property or ‘old people’ in a clear gesture of infantilization, not to mention ‘senile’, ‘veteran’, ‘pensioner’, ‘retired’ to refer pejoratively to older men and women. But one of the most used terms has been ‘grandfather’, in circumstances where not all older people are grandparents and not all grandparents are older people. (N22_LT) The old people are in the crosshairs - whether from the virus or from the open prejudice that is not ashamed to expose itself. Memes with old people, jokes, poorly disguised offenses; if half of what circulates on the internet about the elderly referred to an ethnicity or some nationality, there would be violent demonstrations or we would be on a war footing. (N20_G) The coronavirus was once called ‘old man’s disease’ or ‘baby remover’, as a remover of the baby boomer generation, born between the late 1940s and mid 1960s. In the form of memes, satire or jokes, prejudice with age revealed itself inhumanly. (N12_FSP) |
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Relatives of the elderly |
Disrespect for the elderly intensified at home, with violation of autonomy, mistreatment and violence against property. And how prejudice has been wide opened: there are those who blame the elderly for the need for social isolation. (N8_G) |
Macroestructural |
State/Society/Culture |
The pandemic has reinforced the idea that Chile is not prepared to guarantee the fundamental rights of older people. I’m not sure if people are seeing older people as subjects of rights or objects of charity. They have been presented as vulnerable. I think that a kind of welfare has been installed towards older people that, whether we like it or not, is positive discrimination. (N13_LT) In addition, in the comparison between 18 countries, Chile reaches first place in a disease that today finds the elderly in the worst scenario: a pandemic that isolates them and leaves them even more alone. (N4_LT) We live in a society that exalts youth and considers age a social burden; a society that has not yet realized that Brazil is a country that has aged. (N20_G) We have heard speeches that attribute little relevance to the coronavirus because it is a disease with a higher fatality rate among the elderly. What does that say about us as a society? (N3_ FSP) |