Ageism noted in 18th Century

[menthe_reglisse]

"There is a wicked inclination in most people to suppose an old man decayed in his intellects.  If a young or middle-aged man, when leaving a company, does not recollect where he laid his hat, it is nothing: but if the same inattention is discovered in an old man, peple will shrug up their shoulders and say, 'His memory is going."
Attributed by

Comments

[plumsbitch]

This is fascinating. Something that occurred to me around this, which I'm sure you've already thought of:

In a realist frame (which most gerontologists use), ageism is different from racism and sexism because we all get old, unless we die first. Not many people become black or female. In a discursive frame, this is important to, because we are constructing something a 'old person' that we know we have some likelihood of becoming but may not be now. This is different from most constructions around gender and race(but not all of course) where we are either in a relatively stable position of being in that category or outside it

[menthe_reglisse]

No, not blathering at all!

This issue of being 'other' or not to the group you're studying is also interesting in terms of what you can get away with as a non-group member academic. I hardly ever get called on being a (relatively) young person researching later life, whereas if I was a non-disabled person researching disability, I would constantly have to justify my position. That, I think, is to do with how very unpoliticised later life is, compared to disability circles which, in academia at least, are highly politicised and almost standpoint theory. The exceptional political older person like Barbara McDonald (highly recommend her 'Old Women, Ageing and Ageism' which is about the intersection of homophobia and ageism) and the Grey Panthers, are not well known or influencing academic discourses (McDonald's book is out of print, unfortunately).

[menthe_reglisse]

Whoops, bad phrasing, didn't mean to imply that OP are not political which would be a ridiculous blanket statement for such a diverse group, but that their politics doesn't generally reach academia.

[plumsbitch]

Ooh, that's really interesting about not having to justify your position as a non-group member. Also about age narratives/spaces existing but not having much reach into academia (your book recc puts me in mind of the Older LG groups that exist in several major gay centres, and how they may or may not feed into wider policy/academic work - eg in Brighton's Count Me In Too survey, which followed an earlier general survey of the LGBT community with a survey targetting marginalised groups, there were focus groups aimed at older LGBT people, and reps from the Older LG group in brighton involved in the working party.)

I always get put off by the suspicion that I would have to read Judith Butler...

[parallelgirl]

I wonder how many fine research projects get stalled by that terror? Squillions, I suspect!

Re: I always get put off by the suspicion that I would have to read Judith Butler...

[plumsbitch]

ha! I was *made* to read JB, and thoroughly enjoyed it! Mind you, I knew *nothing* then, and so had no fear/didn't know that people thought of her as 'difficult' etc, which I think helps loads. (plus also the brash enthusiasm of youth!)