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Educ Soc. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 September 21. Published in final edited form as: Educ Soc. 2010 ; 31(111): 411–434. doi:10.1590/S0101-73302010000200007.
The challenges of ageism in Brazil Ana Maria Goldani Princeton University
Abstract
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The material and symbolic resource flows and obligations between generations leave an indelible imprint on family members. These intergenerational exchanges have increased in recent years with growing human longevity and they thus have become important to current academic and policy agendas. Concurrently, ageism and age discrimination have emerged as important subjects. The main goal of this article is to call attention to these issues and their relationship with the current policy debate on resource allocation by age groups. We argue that ageism and the practice of age discrimination in Brazil should be viewed as part of the multiple forms of discrimination experienced by individuals. While noticing someone’s age is not inherently offensive, acting on age-based stereotypes clearly works against the individual and often goes unchallenged by mainstream society. A central assumption in this paper is that the way we frame ageism and intergenerational relations significantly affects perceived age discrimination and support for agebased social programs.
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Introduction “Não sei porque ela deveria revelar sua idade. A Ana Botafogo por sí só, é eterna. A maior expressão do balé classico brasileiro e internacional. Suas apresentaçoes sempre nos encheram de extase e orgulho. Talentos assim não tem idade. São sempre como os vemos e pronto. Que mania desses repórteres brasileiros de misturarem matérias que poderiam ser excelentes, com perguntinhas de baixo nível, remetendo ao fuxico. (Fabio Zonzini).
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The contentious character of age is readily apparent in the above quotation and reveals Zonzini’s ambiguity regarding perception of aging and aged individuals. Such ageist expressions and their related practices are common in Brazilian media and society. Specifically, the quotation above reflects a common idea that our everyday social judgments are frequently age- based, even if we consciously deny them (MacNicol, 2006). Another media example is the regular disclosure of age after a person’s name in Brazilian journalism. We argue that age discrimination and stereotypes are social problems that society must confront and defeat through awareness, education and appropriate policy intervention. Efforts in this direction have gained momentum in industrialized societies, where age discrimination is a highly topical issue against a background of concerns about shortening working lives and ageing populations. For the first time, age discrimination has been made unlawful by the European Union and, as a result, there are now laws in every member state making such discrimination unlawful (Sargeant, 2008)
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As in many western societies, ageism in Brazil occurs in families, government agencies, health care systems, waged labor markets and all over the media. Many government regulations and programs are established with a particular age group in mind and they thus inadvertently discriminate against persons in other age groups. Job retraining programs are cited as a good example of this type of discrimination because they are generally targeted toward people of "employable" ages or of specific gender, racial, or disability statuses (Sampaio, 1999). Brazilian social policies that target the elderly, children, youth and women in reproductive ages may be viewed as ageist policies. Thus, the idea that age is a potential basis of division and conflict between generations and as such represents a threat to intergenerational solidarity, is an issue that is being addressed in Brazil (Barros and Carvalho, 2003; Turra and Queiroz, 2009; Goldani, 2005; Neri, 2003).
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Ageist beliefs and attitudes may not, in and of themselves, be harmful. However, age discrimination occurs if these beliefs and attitudes legitimate "the use of chronological age to mark out classes of people who are systematically denied resources and opportunities that others enjoy, and who suffer the consequences of such denigration, ranging from wellmeaning patronage to unambiguous vilification" (Bytheway,1995:14). Ageism is considered the ultimate prejudice, the last discrimination, the cruelest rejection and the third great “ism” after racism and sexism (Palmore, 2004:1). Ageism like racism depends on stereotyping. The destructive impact of ageism occurs in three main areas: social prejudice, discrimination in the workplace and bias in the healthcare system (Butler, 1980).
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Social prejudice is attached to aging and underlies most forms of ageism. For example, the veneration of youth by most western societies, often makes aging a subject of shame, ridicule, and disgust. In extremely youth-oriented industries, such as entertainment and computer technology, workers in their thirties are viewed as "over the hill”. In the work place, older workers are sometimes not hired or promoted because employers often believe that they will be less flexible and less competent than younger employees. In a system that values profit above all, employers often prefer to replace experienced and better paid older employees with cheaper and younger labor. Finally, in the area of health care, care providers sometimes ignore or dismiss the chronic complaints of the elderly to focus on the more acute health issues of younger patients. One of the most apparent results of the health bias in Brazil has been in the increase of HIV positive cases among the Brazilian elderly, as AIDS programs are strongly targeted towards the young and middle aged while ignoring the elderly under the assumption of the old as non-active sexually (Valente, 2008).
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Brazil, like most modern societies is highly age-stratified and age-conscious and displays complex shifting attitudes towards their older citizens. However, awareness and asessment of the negative impact of age discrimination are scarce. Social prejudice is the area most studied, followed by age bias in the health care system and the discrimination by age in the working place. Health professionals, gerontologists and social psychologists have authored most of the these studies, focusing on the negative perception and discrimination of elderly people (among others Couto, et.Al. 2009 ; Cachioni and Aguilar, 2009, Souza, 2007, Simson, O.R; A.L. Neri and M. Cachioni 2003; Neri, 2003, 2005 ; Debert, 1999; Freitas, et Al.2002; Veloz, et. Al., 1999).
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We argue that the age discrimination and the ageism debate in Brasil should be done under the approach of multiple discriminations. This requires us to consider the perspective of intersectionality, which encompasses the idea that people can simultaneously experience oppression and privilege based on certain individual characteristics and depending on the context. In some cases, grounds such as sex, race, age or disability, to name just a few, may intersect and together produce unique effects, creating as Towsend-Bell suggests, “discreet and insular minorities” who are socially handicapped because of these characteristics. At other times, any one of these characteristics may intersect with other characteristics such as social assistance, family status and economic, social and class status to create unique experiences for the individuals. Even when combined with other grounds such as social assistance and family status, the extent of discrimination may not be revealed by a traditional, non-intersectional approach (Towsend-Bell, 2009). The intersectional discrimination approach can be linked with a sociological tradition of studies on race, gender and class which gained relevance among American Black feminists in the 1980s who improved and spread the discussion of it (Collins, 2000; Crenshaw, 1995). Intersectionality gained greater visibility in the area of human rights and it has proved instrumental for discussing complaints in international forums.
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Finally, we contend that ageism and age discrimination are important parts of the process of intergenerational transmission of knowledge. The transmission of knowledge and education that permeate relations between parents and children or grandparents and grandchildren have two fundamental aspects which are insufficiently considered in studies of intergenerational relations : the growing likelihood of experiencing intergenerational relations due to the increase in human life expectancy and the subsequent transfer of material and symbolic resources, among grandparents, parents and children/grandchildren, from oldest to youngest and youngest to oldest. These elements represent new opportunities for learning outside of the formal educational system. This study calls attention to the fact that the new process of teaching and learning between generations affects not only the inter-personal process of socialization between generations, known as the “implicit intergenerational contract,” but it also affects public policy and gender contracts. Therefore this article aims to convey, first, that ageism in Brazil is mainly associated with elderly people and it is a central issue of the debate on intergenerational exchanges and allocation of governmental resources. Second, age discrimination should be combated with educational programs, government intervention and even new legislation. Facing the traditional tension between scholarship and activism, we conclude with recommendations to identify and address age discrimination and ageism in the context of current antidiscriminatory policies in Brazil.
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The Brazilian Experience from Various Perspectives The “clash of generations” in Brazil whether actual or perceived, real or invented, has come to the centre of policy discussions about the elderly population as well as into popular awareness through the mass media (Goldani, 2005). A central premise of the oft-discussed “intergenerational equity debate” is that divergence among specific age segments of the population are well marked and that younger, middle and older generations are in
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competition with each other for scarce resources. This perspective gained force under the international and national debates over social security reforms and the increase in social spending in the 1990s. Recent work has been concerned with the financial health of social security, against the background of demographic changes. It seems to uncritically accept that there is a “conflict” of interest among age groups and a “demographic imperative” linked to social policy. By using a question from the Brazilian part of the World Values Survey (WVS), I seek to advance this discussion. I will show how the debate about the “unjust” relationship between age groups continues to influence public policy debate in Brazil and the importance of offering alternatives to counter-balance the narrow view of “intergenerational equity”. When jobs are scarce, should older people be forced to retire from work early?
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The WVS question is “When jobs are scarce, should older people be forced to retire from work early?” and for Brazil it was asked in 1991 and again in 1997. The percentage of Brazilians agreeing that the elderly should be forced to retire in time of scarcity of jobs doubled in the six intervening years (33 percent in 1991 to 66 percent in 1997). Based on the WVS question, we evaluate the weight of contextual factors and individual characteristics in explaining the strong change in opinion regarding the forced early retirement of the elderly.
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The probability of agreeing with forced retirement when jobs are scarce was 69% for the average respondent in 1997 compared to 31% in 1991. Although support for forced retirement greatly increased from 1991 to 1997, the pattern of the responses didn’t vary according to individual characteristics over the six year period. Rather, the proportion agreeing that older people should be forced to retire from work early when jobs are scarce, changed at a constant rate for individuals of various characteristics.
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The rise in negative public opinion about elderly people is understandable in the context of the social security reforms and the persistent inequalities of the 1990s, along with the projections that the population aged 60+ is projected to double from 15% to 30% between 1990 and 2030. In the 1990s, government social spending and social security reform were framed as a competition between generations for scarce resources, both by the economists and the media, popularizing the “intergenerational equity” approach (Barros et al 1999, Barros and Carvalho, 2003, Giambiagi, 2004, Lavinas and Garson, 2003). The influence of the mass media on public opinion regarding the situation of different age-sex groups and their benefits was a headline almost everyday (Goldani, 2005; Neri 2003) and although we can’t measure its impact on public opinion, findings from other countries suggest that the media helped to increase negative perceptions about the elderly. Studies for the United States that examine how young, middle-aged, and older people respond to information from a media source about their age group’s relative economic privilege or disadvantage, show that framing intergenerational comparisons as favorable or unfavorable to one’s own age group affects attitudes about age and age-based spending support. Thus it is reasonable to expect that age group status,--- responding differently to the policy debate and to the perception of an intergenerational equity—is also part of the explanation of the higher percentage of Brazilians supporting the elderly early retirement due to scarcity of jobs in 1997. Educ Soc. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 September 21.
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Some secondary statistics reinforce our argument that contextual factors are important influences on individual behavior. For example, there were two reforms of the Brazilian social security system, in 1993 and 1999, covering the areas of social insurance, social assistance and health, which contributed to an expansion of social security coverage. The proportion of retired people aged 60 years and over increased from 59% to 92% in rural areas and from 49% to 68% in urban areas during the period of 1981 to 2001 (Wajnman, et all. 2005). Retirement benefits became an important source of income for families and helped to combat poverty. However, the activity rates of the elderly didn’t decline. Rather, male activity rates of the elderly increased from 36% to 38% in urban areas but remained at 60% in rural areas, while female activity rates increased from 9% to 12% in urban areas and from 13% to 19% in rural areas (Wajnman, 2005:463). Therefore, the increase in benefits and in the participation of the elderly in the labor force as well as the greater public awareness of the dispute for resources between age groups, becomes a plausible explanation for the doubling of Brazilians supporting the idea that older people should be forced to retire from work early when jobs are scarce. Finally, during the 1990s, government efforts at reducing social inequalities among older persons resulted in the National Council of the Rights of Older Persons, which organized conferences, public hearings, and workshops to foster participation. These efforts culminated in the creation of the “Estatuto do Idoso”. The original project (Law, n 3.561) is from 1997 but received final approval in 2006.
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Our findings also show that education and income are negatively associated with attitudes regarding forced retirement, when controlling for other variables. This demonstrates that persons with lower education and lower income are more likely to support forced retirement of the elderly. When the 1991 and 1997 data are combined, the predicted probability of agreeing with forced retirement of the elderly in times of unemployment is 60% for people with lower levels of education. This probability decreases to 42% and 25% for individuals in the middle and upper levels of education, respectively. In terms of income, the predicted probability of agreeing with forced retirement is 51% for individuals in the lowest step of the income scale and decreases to 24% for individuals at the highest step of the scale. In separate analyses for the two years, we show that support for early retirement was higher in 1997, holding other variables constant How is discrimination linked with demographic changes in Brazil?
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Through an apparently neutral demographic perspective of the so-called “demographic dividends” or “window of opportunity”, ---which emphasizes the advantages of changes in age structure for economic development,--- Turra and Queiroz (2009) call attention to the “generational inequities” in Brazil. They claim that the old receive the greatest benefits of social security reform thanks to poorly-designed policies that do not consider the temporary opportunities afforded by the demographic transition. In their words, Brazil is losing its “window of opportunity”. “En 2004, los sistemas públicos de pensiones del Brasil transfirieron alrededor del 12% del PIB de la población en edad de trabajar a los ancianos, un monto significativo para un país donde tan solo el 6% de la población tiene más de 65 años.…. Las conclusiones revelan que los encargados de formular las políticas en el Brasil han tomado decisiones que no están bien fundadas en una base técnica y Educ Soc. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 September 21.
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no tuvieron en cuenta la naturaleza temporaria de las transiciones demográficas…. Esta miopía también ha reducido los beneficios fiscales que se derivan de los aumentos de la mano de obra disponible. … las simulaciones de políticas indican que mediante el aumento de la edad mínima de jubilación y la eliminación de la evasión, entre otros factores, se podría aumentar las tasas de dependencia de la seguridad social, ayudar a cumplir con las obligaciones, mantener a la población anciana por encima de la línea de pobreza y crear las condiciones necesarias en el futuro para el crecimiento”. (Turra and Queiroz, 2009: 162/163)
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Following our central assumption in this paper, ---that the way we frame ageism and intergenerational relations will have a significant effect on both perceived age discrimination and support for age-based social programs--- I would like to offer a different perspective of Turra and Queiroz’s analysis as a response and counter-balance to the intergenerational equity approach. I argue that the association between changes in the age structure and social security finances placed in the center of the demographic dividends failures deserves a more complex model of analysis. It needs to incorporate a series of elements that look at the relationship between age groups beyond the level of public expenditure alone. Among those elements, we discuss three: 1. The necessity to locate the safety net provisions for different age-groups in the broad context of income and social inequalities; 2. The need to consider the principles on which public support is provided and; 3. The need for appropriate information on social care and other service use and the outcomes and needs for different age groups as a necessary condition to fully discuss “social justice” among age groups.
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First, forgetting to put age discrimination within the broader system of inequalities not only limits the understanding of the complexity of the process of policy decision making but it can also lead to misleading conclusions of the impact of the policies. Thus, the so called current “privileges” of the Brazilian elderly must be viewed at the macro and micro levels, to the extent that elderly benefits not only improve their personal well-being but also provide resources for his/her extended family. More than 2/3 of the population, 60 years or older, was receiving some type of pension benefits (77%) in 2002, which accounted for a substantial part of their household income. When the elderly lived with other family members, their incomes represented almost 60% of the total family income in the urban families and 70% in those living in the rural areas. (Wajnaman, 2005). In fact, there is a reverse intergenerational flow with the elderly providing for the young, which reveals the economic difficulties faced by the young generation (Camarano, 2005). Therefore, acknowledging age-group inequality as part of a multiple system of discrimination, or in terms of the other “isms” in Brazil, requires keeping in mind the complexity of intersections such as being “old, female, poor and black”. This is just an example of the several recent portrayals of Brazilians under multiple inequalities (Pinheiro, et.All. 2008). Thus, an integrated system of policies that gets at the complex and historical system of inequality in the country seems to be a more appropriate and better way to analyze social security benefits and their share among age groups. A second issue has to do with recognizing the Constitutional principles on which public support is provided. Public polices are oriented both by a technical logic and the ability of groups to bring pressure on the state. The Brazilian social security system is clearly a result
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of he pressure from different groups during the elaboration of the 1988 National Constitution, which guided the reforms to the system and improved on citizen rights. The government is mandated to enforce the constitutional principles through laws and policies and, with the participation of civil society, it has created a set of public policies that are both redistributive and recognize diverse interests.
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A polemic example of the nature of Brazil’s safety net for older persons is the fact that it is based primarily on non-contributive social programs. For example, the Continued Assistance Benefit (LOAS) provides a monthly minimum salary to persons over 65 and those with disabilities, whose families in both cases have a per capita income lower than a quarter of the minimum salary. Therefore, as new groups of beneficiaries emerge and social spending increases, the relationship and power structure among social and age groups seems to have changed and threatens traditional privileges. Thus, not only technical issues such as those regarding “demographic dividends” but the Constitutional guarantees of negotiation among segments of society and the state must to be considered in the creation of social policies in Brazil.
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Regarding the issue of appropriate information on social care and other service use and the outcomes and needs for different age groups, the limitation of the data available and its cross-sectional nature it is well known in Brazil. For example, the Report of Social Spending of the Central Government, describes the government’s revenue sources and its social expenditure per area. The publication of detailed information in this report is recent and offers limited information although it has served as the main source to address a generational bias in social spending. It is based on a “static methodology of today’s reality” and neglects the dynamics of citizen’s life chances and as Esping-Andersen et. All. (2002:6), remind us “the core welfare issue is not how many people at any given time are low-paid or ill-housed”.
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In conclusion, we would like to suggest that the evaluation of the social effects of social programs on the well-being of the population at different ages could be a good counterpoint to the evaluation of the studies concerned with the “finances of the social security system and the privileges of the older” or even in terms of the “missed window of opportunities”. In fact, some recent results of the expansion in coverage, quality and efficacy of the social security system suggest a series of benefits for different age groups. The infant mortality rate in Brazil fell by 65% in the decade between 1996 and 2006 but it is still the third-worst in South America (20.4 per 1,000). Some of the high-priority social programs like the efforts to eradicate hunger (“Fome Zero”), creating youth employment (“Primeiro Emprego”), and unifying conditional cash transfer/programs for greater effectiveness in reducing poverty (“Bolsa Família”), and the recuperation of the purchasing power of the minimum wage in the last eight years contributes to making the poorest Brazilians less vulnerable than they were before. However, high levels of income and social inequalities persist. Therefore, in searching for a more complete picture and understanding of policy effects among different age groups, we need a diversity of policy approaches with concerns that go beyond the level of public expenditure alone, like Amartya Sen’s capability approach (1999, 2006).
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How widespread is discrimination in Brazil? Despite Constitutional guarantees, discrimination is part of the everyday life of Brazilians in various settings and at different levels. Discrimination by age in the labor market is scarcely known but the available findings clearly indicate its presence even among an already discriminated group, such as disabled workers (Sampaio, et al. 1999). In 2005 over a quarter of men aged 50 to 65 and 30% of women aged 50 to 59 were defined as economically inactive in Brazil. Although it is difficult for researchers to quantify the contribution of ageism and age discrimination per se to these low activity rates, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that both men and women, as they get closer to the state pension age (SPA), are less and less inclined to look for work. They believe that on the basis of their own experiences to date, that age discrimination will work against them in the labor market.
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Data from the World Values Survey in 2006 showed that almost 5% of Brazilians said they wouldn’t like to have an elderly person as a neighbor in 2006. The good news is that among the 16 groups of people asked as potential neighbors, the elderly were the least rejected. The least desirable group of people to have as a neighbor were drug addicts (20%), followed by minor troublemakers and heavy drinkers with each at about 15 percent of rejection. Another group of undesirable neighbors were prostitutes and former prisoners with about 10 percent of rejections, followed by homosexuals with 6 percent, people with AIDS and favelados (shantytown residents) at 4 percent.
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Discrimination in health shows that when it comes to treating the elderly with ageappropriate medical care, older Brazilians like others in different contexts, become their own worst enemy. Doctors dismiss seniors' aches and pains as an inevitable part of aging rather than probing deeper, as they would for younger patients and then many older people as well as their caregivers seems to internalize the message and fail to seek a second opinion or one from a geriatrician. Health experts say that such fatalism -- and the assumption that everyone over 60 has the same health needs -- has a name: medical ageism. Some find ageism in a widespread failure to promote preventive health measures or manage multiple chronic illnesses and the risk of falls in older patients. Others point to a scarcity of seniors in drug trials and providers' unwillingness to confront their own mortality.
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The medical ageism in Brazil can be exemplified by the AIDS statistics from the 2008 report on the global AIDS epidemic which shows that the number of HIV positive Brazilian women aged 50–59 doubled between 2000 and 2007. Among those aged 60–69 the number grew by 88 percent and those over 70 years increased by 190 percent. Although less marked, the trend among males showed increasing numbers as well. The sharp increase of AIDS among older women in Brazil and some other countries in Latin America generated a debate of the potential causes and those are illustrative of ageism. An important group of causes has to do with the vulnerability of older women for no longer being in reproductive ages. Since there is no risk of pregnancy, it reduces concerns over using condoms, and at the same time after menopause, women are more vulnerable because the vaginal tissues are more fragile. Also, in a gendered context, women’s negotiation for partners to use condoms seems to be more common among unstable unions. Therefore, even in a time of the spreading use of Viagra, the assumption seems to be that older people are not sexually active and that their
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sexuality somehow disappears at certain age. A concrete side effect is a late diagnosis of AIDS among the elderly. Even when they develop AIDS symptoms, the problem remains hidden under other pathologies that are common in the process. Finally, by discounting sexuality among older people, researchers often overlook the risk of sexually transmitted diseases spreading among the elderly (see various expert opinions on Valente, 2008).
A Profile of Elderly Discrimination in Brazil “…o velho brasileiro não existe. Existem varias realidades de velhice referenciadas a diferentes condições de qualidade de vida individual e social”. (Neri, 1993:39)
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There is no single aging model in Brazil and several studies affirm the complexity of drawing a profile of negative or positive perceptions and attitudes without considering the context of individuals’ familiar, professional and personal lives (Cachioni and Aguilar, 2009; Neri and Jorge, 2006). Changes in the notions and values associated with the aging process were documented in urban Brazil through print media articles (Neri, 2003) The historical changes include a transition of aging from a “divine to more worldly concern”; from a “male to predominantly female preoccupation”; from “old age’ to ‘third age”.’ These transitions are intertwined with new moral hierarchies, and are linked to the medicalization of old age in the late twentieth century (Leibing, 2004).
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Another line of studies stresses intergenerational relations. Some results suggest that there is an overall improvement in intergenerational understanding, improvement in elderly health status and young people’s attitude toward old age. Through often enjoyable interactions, young and elderly people also improved their understandings and view of each other. An example is the perceptions of some groups of students revealing how much they feel free to talk to elders and the contact with elders made them more peaceful (Souza, 2003). The quality of the relationship between grandparents and their grandchildren is also explored through the exchange of experiences in the process of generational identity. Some findings reveal the importance of the greater diversity of the family environment in mediating the relationship between youth (ages 1–18) and the old (ages 62–78) and concluded that there is an effective exchange of knowledge, values and care activities between these two groups (Schmidth, 2007).
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The only Brazilian study comparable to the international surveys on ageism was done in the South of Brazil (Couto et al 2009). It seeks to identify the predominant types of discrimination against the old and to measure their relationships with levels of stress. Based on similar questionnaires, the findings were compared with Portugal and the United States. Despite some problems of comparison, (no national sample for Brazil and sample selectivity of those with better health and those active in senior organizations), the authors conclude that the most common type of discrimination were related to the social context and health of individuals. Using a summary indicator of ageism that is based on the frequency and type of discrimination and its associated level of stress, the findings show that ageism was not differentiated by sex, age, school years and self-reported health. However, the level of ageism was greater in those cases in which the elderly were less satisfied with their socioeconomic status.
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Contrary to their expectations levels of stress for most discriminatory situations were, on average, very low. The authors thus conclude that the experience of discrimination is not necessarily explicitly associated with stress and the authors also suggest that the elderly could be using different strategies to cope with negative discrimination. However, they also noted that the non-representative nature of the sample might be leading to these findings. The organizations (Grupos da Terceira Idade) sampled,, held activities and conferences to stimulate the elderly to think positively about their age, potentially increasing elderly selfsteem, and allowing them to more easily deal with prejudices (Couto et A7l 2009).
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Finally, regarding the national comparisons on ageism among the elderly, they found both differences and similarities with Portugal and the United States. As expected, the experiences of age discrimination for elderly Brazilians and Portuguese tended to be more similar than between Brazilians and Americans. The highest levels of violence were suffered by the Brazilian elderly, which is compatible with the general levels in that country. In conclusion, this study suggests that the Brazilian findings endorse the idea that ageism is a generalized and transcultural phenomena.
Conclusions
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With the aging demographic trend, it is especially timely for Brazilian researchers and policymakers to understand how society can shed its institutionalized ageism and promote a society for all ages. The term “ageism” is still not widely known or understood amongst Brazilians and it is barely a focus of policies. However, it is fair to say that although the positive and negatives aspects of ageism are not explicit, the issue of age has appeared on the agenda of governmental policies in the last decade. Legal statutes intended for various age groups like the Statute for the Old, The Statute for Children and Adolescents, and Youth Employment Job Training, along with the social programs enforcing these statutes, are good examples of the recognition of the needs of different age groups. They also reveal a very age-specific public policy system in Brazil. While noticing someone’s age is not inherently offensive, acting on age-based stereotypes clearly is. Such stereotypes should not be part of mainstream policies.
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Ageing generally has a negative image, bound up with fear, stereotypes and alarmist projections about the implications of an ageing population. Although we cannot be entirely sure about why and how it happens, the Brazilian findings show that the practice of ageism is common and not only diminishes the value of the old but also puts their lives at risk, as in the case of AIDS treatment. As in most Western societies, as Brazil grows older, there is likely to be a revolution against 'ageism' as 'the generation shift' follows on from the 'gender shift', although we hope the pace of the first will be faster than the latter. “Old age promises to be a rich resource for society but only if it is accompanied by a shift in attitude away from the negative images that consign elders to the scrapheap,”(Edgar, 1991; Thomas, 2004). Age discrimination and stereotypes are social problems, which society must confront and defeat through awareness and education if its members seek universal equality (Garstka et al 2005). To combat ageism an important question is “ What are the old for?” In the Brazilian context, this requires taking into account the historically unprecedented arrival of a large
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elderly population and some of the common assumptions about the elderly. For example, if older people are viewed as just an expense item on entitlement budgets, then we can understand the alarm of policy – makers and some economists about the costs of social security and the future. However, it is possible that in Brazil, as in other Western societies, we are biased by our contemporary celebration of young adulthood, which some authors believe has displaced other stages of life (childhood and old age) and favors certain values (activity, instrumental mastery, and so forth) over others (Thomas, 2004). On the other hand if the answer to “What are old people for?” entails contribution by the old to all generations, then we can't plan a residential community that is based only on the idea of “service delivery,” no matter how efficient. Behind this argument there is a belief that the new aging generations will be different and will be able to challenge the fear of an aging society, particularly the gloom that old age is nothing but decline (Thomas, 2004).
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Thus, the use of various perspectives to understand ageing and its impacts is very important to guide policies and, after all, for the wellbeing of the individuals. We argue that, in fact, population needs should be viewed with attendant changes in expectations, attitudes and policies in Brazil. We argued that the alarmism that an ageing society increases the dependency ratio, should be countered by some lesser–publicized facts such as the increased participation of women in the labor force, the vast quantities of reciprocal intergenerational help found in Brazilian families, the income that the elderly often provide to families and the common return of grown children to live with their parents. It is important to note here that the elderly-young relations should not be considered merely an economic or help exchanges, but they reflect strong emotional bonds. This has been described as a new form of extended family, based on 'intimacy at a distance'. Therefore, new trends and approaches call for a notion of aged 'dependency' in a broad and very different light or, as we suggest for Brazil, beyond a simple relationship between demographic changes and the economic costs of public services.
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Finally, to recognize ageism as a problem is the first step in eliminating it. The next step it is to choose a method to combat it and to make individuals aware of its consequences. An enduring legacy of family relationships throughout members’ lives is an important aspect of this process. Areas which require further development include: a deeper understanding of the longevity and the increased probabilities of extended-family living arrangements and ties; how knowledge is transmitted across and within the generations; an understanding of the role of biology, gene–environment interactions, and the links between biology and culture; and the study of change and variation across and within generations. Last, but not least, is the need to implement legislation outlawing unfair discrimination by age in general and not only in employment and training, possibly modeled after the EU’s recent policy interventions.
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Educ Soc. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 September 21. Published in final edited form as: Educ Soc. 2010 ; 31(111): 411–434. doi:10.1590/S0101-73302010000200007.
The challenges of ageism in Brazil Ana Maria Goldani Princeton University
Abstract
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The material and symbolic resource flows and obligations between generations leave an indelible imprint on family members. These intergenerational exchanges have increased in recent years with growing human longevity and they thus have become important to current academic and policy agendas. Concurrently, ageism and age discrimination have emerged as important subjects. The main goal of this article is to call attention to these issues and their relationship with the current policy debate on resource allocation by age groups. We argue that ageism and the practice of age discrimination in Brazil should be viewed as part of the multiple forms of discrimination experienced by individuals. While noticing someone’s age is not inherently offensive, acting on age-based stereotypes clearly works against the individual and often goes unchallenged by mainstream society. A central assumption in this paper is that the way we frame ageism and intergenerational relations significantly affects perceived age discrimination and support for agebased social programs.
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Introduction “Não sei porque ela deveria revelar sua idade. A Ana Botafogo por sí só, é eterna. A maior expressão do balé classico brasileiro e internacional. Suas apresentaçoes sempre nos encheram de extase e orgulho. Talentos assim não tem idade. São sempre como os vemos e pronto. Que mania desses repórteres brasileiros de misturarem matérias que poderiam ser excelentes, com perguntinhas de baixo nível, remetendo ao fuxico. (Fabio Zonzini).
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The contentious character of age is readily apparent in the above quotation and reveals Zonzini’s ambiguity regarding perception of aging and aged individuals. Such ageist expressions and their related practices are common in Brazilian media and society. Specifically, the quotation above reflects a common idea that our everyday social judgments are frequently age- based, even if we consciously deny them (MacNicol, 2006). Another media example is the regular disclosure of age after a person’s name in Brazilian journalism. We argue that age discrimination and stereotypes are social problems that society must confront and defeat through awareness, education and appropriate policy intervention. Efforts in this direction have gained momentum in industrialized societies, where age discrimination is a highly topical issue against a background of concerns about shortening working lives and ageing populations. For the first time, age discrimination has been made unlawful by the European Union and, as a result, there are now laws in every member state making such discrimination unlawful (Sargeant, 2008)
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As in many western societies, ageism in Brazil occurs in families, government agencies, health care systems, waged labor markets and all over the media. Many government regulations and programs are established with a particular age group in mind and they thus inadvertently discriminate against persons in other age groups. Job retraining programs are cited as a good example of this type of discrimination because they are generally targeted toward people of "employable" ages or of specific gender, racial, or disability statuses (Sampaio, 1999). Brazilian social policies that target the elderly, children, youth and women in reproductive ages may be viewed as ageist policies. Thus, the idea that age is a potential basis of division and conflict between generations and as such represents a threat to intergenerational solidarity, is an issue that is being addressed in Brazil (Barros and Carvalho, 2003; Turra and Queiroz, 2009; Goldani, 2005; Neri, 2003).
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Ageist beliefs and attitudes may not, in and of themselves, be harmful. However, age discrimination occurs if these beliefs and attitudes legitimate "the use of chronological age to mark out classes of people who are systematically denied resources and opportunities that others enjoy, and who suffer the consequences of such denigration, ranging from wellmeaning patronage to unambiguous vilification" (Bytheway,1995:14). Ageism is considered the ultimate prejudice, the last discrimination, the cruelest rejection and the third great “ism” after racism and sexism (Palmore, 2004:1). Ageism like racism depends on stereotyping. The destructive impact of ageism occurs in three main areas: social prejudice, discrimination in the workplace and bias in the healthcare system (Butler, 1980).
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Social prejudice is attached to aging and underlies most forms of ageism. For example, the veneration of youth by most western societies, often makes aging a subject of shame, ridicule, and disgust. In extremely youth-oriented industries, such as entertainment and computer technology, workers in their thirties are viewed as "over the hill”. In the work place, older workers are sometimes not hired or promoted because employers often believe that they will be less flexible and less competent than younger employees. In a system that values profit above all, employers often prefer to replace experienced and better paid older employees with cheaper and younger labor. Finally, in the area of health care, care providers sometimes ignore or dismiss the chronic complaints of the elderly to focus on the more acute health issues of younger patients. One of the most apparent results of the health bias in Brazil has been in the increase of HIV positive cases among the Brazilian elderly, as AIDS programs are strongly targeted towards the young and middle aged while ignoring the elderly under the assumption of the old as non-active sexually (Valente, 2008).
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Brazil, like most modern societies is highly age-stratified and age-conscious and displays complex shifting attitudes towards their older citizens. However, awareness and asessment of the negative impact of age discrimination are scarce. Social prejudice is the area most studied, followed by age bias in the health care system and the discrimination by age in the working place. Health professionals, gerontologists and social psychologists have authored most of the these studies, focusing on the negative perception and discrimination of elderly people (among others Couto, et.Al. 2009 ; Cachioni and Aguilar, 2009, Souza, 2007, Simson, O.R; A.L. Neri and M. Cachioni 2003; Neri, 2003, 2005 ; Debert, 1999; Freitas, et Al.2002; Veloz, et. Al., 1999).
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We argue that the age discrimination and the ageism debate in Brasil should be done under the approach of multiple discriminations. This requires us to consider the perspective of intersectionality, which encompasses the idea that people can simultaneously experience oppression and privilege based on certain individual characteristics and depending on the context. In some cases, grounds such as sex, race, age or disability, to name just a few, may intersect and together produce unique effects, creating as Towsend-Bell suggests, “discreet and insular minorities” who are socially handicapped because of these characteristics. At other times, any one of these characteristics may intersect with other characteristics such as social assistance, family status and economic, social and class status to create unique experiences for the individuals. Even when combined with other grounds such as social assistance and family status, the extent of discrimination may not be revealed by a traditional, non-intersectional approach (Towsend-Bell, 2009). The intersectional discrimination approach can be linked with a sociological tradition of studies on race, gender and class which gained relevance among American Black feminists in the 1980s who improved and spread the discussion of it (Collins, 2000; Crenshaw, 1995). Intersectionality gained greater visibility in the area of human rights and it has proved instrumental for discussing complaints in international forums.
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Finally, we contend that ageism and age discrimination are important parts of the process of intergenerational transmission of knowledge. The transmission of knowledge and education that permeate relations between parents and children or grandparents and grandchildren have two fundamental aspects which are insufficiently considered in studies of intergenerational relations : the growing likelihood of experiencing intergenerational relations due to the increase in human life expectancy and the subsequent transfer of material and symbolic resources, among grandparents, parents and children/grandchildren, from oldest to youngest and youngest to oldest. These elements represent new opportunities for learning outside of the formal educational system. This study calls attention to the fact that the new process of teaching and learning between generations affects not only the inter-personal process of socialization between generations, known as the “implicit intergenerational contract,” but it also affects public policy and gender contracts. Therefore this article aims to convey, first, that ageism in Brazil is mainly associated with elderly people and it is a central issue of the debate on intergenerational exchanges and allocation of governmental resources. Second, age discrimination should be combated with educational programs, government intervention and even new legislation. Facing the traditional tension between scholarship and activism, we conclude with recommendations to identify and address age discrimination and ageism in the context of current antidiscriminatory policies in Brazil.
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The Brazilian Experience from Various Perspectives The “clash of generations” in Brazil whether actual or perceived, real or invented, has come to the centre of policy discussions about the elderly population as well as into popular awareness through the mass media (Goldani, 2005). A central premise of the oft-discussed “intergenerational equity debate” is that divergence among specific age segments of the population are well marked and that younger, middle and older generations are in
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competition with each other for scarce resources. This perspective gained force under the international and national debates over social security reforms and the increase in social spending in the 1990s. Recent work has been concerned with the financial health of social security, against the background of demographic changes. It seems to uncritically accept that there is a “conflict” of interest among age groups and a “demographic imperative” linked to social policy. By using a question from the Brazilian part of the World Values Survey (WVS), I seek to advance this discussion. I will show how the debate about the “unjust” relationship between age groups continues to influence public policy debate in Brazil and the importance of offering alternatives to counter-balance the narrow view of “intergenerational equity”. When jobs are scarce, should older people be forced to retire from work early?
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The WVS question is “When jobs are scarce, should older people be forced to retire from work early?” and for Brazil it was asked in 1991 and again in 1997. The percentage of Brazilians agreeing that the elderly should be forced to retire in time of scarcity of jobs doubled in the six intervening years (33 percent in 1991 to 66 percent in 1997). Based on the WVS question, we evaluate the weight of contextual factors and individual characteristics in explaining the strong change in opinion regarding the forced early retirement of the elderly.
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The probability of agreeing with forced retirement when jobs are scarce was 69% for the average respondent in 1997 compared to 31% in 1991. Although support for forced retirement greatly increased from 1991 to 1997, the pattern of the responses didn’t vary according to individual characteristics over the six year period. Rather, the proportion agreeing that older people should be forced to retire from work early when jobs are scarce, changed at a constant rate for individuals of various characteristics.
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The rise in negative public opinion about elderly people is understandable in the context of the social security reforms and the persistent inequalities of the 1990s, along with the projections that the population aged 60+ is projected to double from 15% to 30% between 1990 and 2030. In the 1990s, government social spending and social security reform were framed as a competition between generations for scarce resources, both by the economists and the media, popularizing the “intergenerational equity” approach (Barros et al 1999, Barros and Carvalho, 2003, Giambiagi, 2004, Lavinas and Garson, 2003). The influence of the mass media on public opinion regarding the situation of different age-sex groups and their benefits was a headline almost everyday (Goldani, 2005; Neri 2003) and although we can’t measure its impact on public opinion, findings from other countries suggest that the media helped to increase negative perceptions about the elderly. Studies for the United States that examine how young, middle-aged, and older people respond to information from a media source about their age group’s relative economic privilege or disadvantage, show that framing intergenerational comparisons as favorable or unfavorable to one’s own age group affects attitudes about age and age-based spending support. Thus it is reasonable to expect that age group status,--- responding differently to the policy debate and to the perception of an intergenerational equity—is also part of the explanation of the higher percentage of Brazilians supporting the elderly early retirement due to scarcity of jobs in 1997. Educ Soc. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 September 21.
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Some secondary statistics reinforce our argument that contextual factors are important influences on individual behavior. For example, there were two reforms of the Brazilian social security system, in 1993 and 1999, covering the areas of social insurance, social assistance and health, which contributed to an expansion of social security coverage. The proportion of retired people aged 60 years and over increased from 59% to 92% in rural areas and from 49% to 68% in urban areas during the period of 1981 to 2001 (Wajnman, et all. 2005). Retirement benefits became an important source of income for families and helped to combat poverty. However, the activity rates of the elderly didn’t decline. Rather, male activity rates of the elderly increased from 36% to 38% in urban areas but remained at 60% in rural areas, while female activity rates increased from 9% to 12% in urban areas and from 13% to 19% in rural areas (Wajnman, 2005:463). Therefore, the increase in benefits and in the participation of the elderly in the labor force as well as the greater public awareness of the dispute for resources between age groups, becomes a plausible explanation for the doubling of Brazilians supporting the idea that older people should be forced to retire from work early when jobs are scarce. Finally, during the 1990s, government efforts at reducing social inequalities among older persons resulted in the National Council of the Rights of Older Persons, which organized conferences, public hearings, and workshops to foster participation. These efforts culminated in the creation of the “Estatuto do Idoso”. The original project (Law, n 3.561) is from 1997 but received final approval in 2006.
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Our findings also show that education and income are negatively associated with attitudes regarding forced retirement, when controlling for other variables. This demonstrates that persons with lower education and lower income are more likely to support forced retirement of the elderly. When the 1991 and 1997 data are combined, the predicted probability of agreeing with forced retirement of the elderly in times of unemployment is 60% for people with lower levels of education. This probability decreases to 42% and 25% for individuals in the middle and upper levels of education, respectively. In terms of income, the predicted probability of agreeing with forced retirement is 51% for individuals in the lowest step of the income scale and decreases to 24% for individuals at the highest step of the scale. In separate analyses for the two years, we show that support for early retirement was higher in 1997, holding other variables constant How is discrimination linked with demographic changes in Brazil?
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Through an apparently neutral demographic perspective of the so-called “demographic dividends” or “window of opportunity”, ---which emphasizes the advantages of changes in age structure for economic development,--- Turra and Queiroz (2009) call attention to the “generational inequities” in Brazil. They claim that the old receive the greatest benefits of social security reform thanks to poorly-designed policies that do not consider the temporary opportunities afforded by the demographic transition. In their words, Brazil is losing its “window of opportunity”. “En 2004, los sistemas públicos de pensiones del Brasil transfirieron alrededor del 12% del PIB de la población en edad de trabajar a los ancianos, un monto significativo para un país donde tan solo el 6% de la población tiene más de 65 años.…. Las conclusiones revelan que los encargados de formular las políticas en el Brasil han tomado decisiones que no están bien fundadas en una base técnica y Educ Soc. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 September 21.
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no tuvieron en cuenta la naturaleza temporaria de las transiciones demográficas…. Esta miopía también ha reducido los beneficios fiscales que se derivan de los aumentos de la mano de obra disponible. … las simulaciones de políticas indican que mediante el aumento de la edad mínima de jubilación y la eliminación de la evasión, entre otros factores, se podría aumentar las tasas de dependencia de la seguridad social, ayudar a cumplir con las obligaciones, mantener a la población anciana por encima de la línea de pobreza y crear las condiciones necesarias en el futuro para el crecimiento”. (Turra and Queiroz, 2009: 162/163)
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Following our central assumption in this paper, ---that the way we frame ageism and intergenerational relations will have a significant effect on both perceived age discrimination and support for age-based social programs--- I would like to offer a different perspective of Turra and Queiroz’s analysis as a response and counter-balance to the intergenerational equity approach. I argue that the association between changes in the age structure and social security finances placed in the center of the demographic dividends failures deserves a more complex model of analysis. It needs to incorporate a series of elements that look at the relationship between age groups beyond the level of public expenditure alone. Among those elements, we discuss three: 1. The necessity to locate the safety net provisions for different age-groups in the broad context of income and social inequalities; 2. The need to consider the principles on which public support is provided and; 3. The need for appropriate information on social care and other service use and the outcomes and needs for different age groups as a necessary condition to fully discuss “social justice” among age groups.
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First, forgetting to put age discrimination within the broader system of inequalities not only limits the understanding of the complexity of the process of policy decision making but it can also lead to misleading conclusions of the impact of the policies. Thus, the so called current “privileges” of the Brazilian elderly must be viewed at the macro and micro levels, to the extent that elderly benefits not only improve their personal well-being but also provide resources for his/her extended family. More than 2/3 of the population, 60 years or older, was receiving some type of pension benefits (77%) in 2002, which accounted for a substantial part of their household income. When the elderly lived with other family members, their incomes represented almost 60% of the total family income in the urban families and 70% in those living in the rural areas. (Wajnaman, 2005). In fact, there is a reverse intergenerational flow with the elderly providing for the young, which reveals the economic difficulties faced by the young generation (Camarano, 2005). Therefore, acknowledging age-group inequality as part of a multiple system of discrimination, or in terms of the other “isms” in Brazil, requires keeping in mind the complexity of intersections such as being “old, female, poor and black”. This is just an example of the several recent portrayals of Brazilians under multiple inequalities (Pinheiro, et.All. 2008). Thus, an integrated system of policies that gets at the complex and historical system of inequality in the country seems to be a more appropriate and better way to analyze social security benefits and their share among age groups. A second issue has to do with recognizing the Constitutional principles on which public support is provided. Public polices are oriented both by a technical logic and the ability of groups to bring pressure on the state. The Brazilian social security system is clearly a result
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of he pressure from different groups during the elaboration of the 1988 National Constitution, which guided the reforms to the system and improved on citizen rights. The government is mandated to enforce the constitutional principles through laws and policies and, with the participation of civil society, it has created a set of public policies that are both redistributive and recognize diverse interests.
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A polemic example of the nature of Brazil’s safety net for older persons is the fact that it is based primarily on non-contributive social programs. For example, the Continued Assistance Benefit (LOAS) provides a monthly minimum salary to persons over 65 and those with disabilities, whose families in both cases have a per capita income lower than a quarter of the minimum salary. Therefore, as new groups of beneficiaries emerge and social spending increases, the relationship and power structure among social and age groups seems to have changed and threatens traditional privileges. Thus, not only technical issues such as those regarding “demographic dividends” but the Constitutional guarantees of negotiation among segments of society and the state must to be considered in the creation of social policies in Brazil.
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Regarding the issue of appropriate information on social care and other service use and the outcomes and needs for different age groups, the limitation of the data available and its cross-sectional nature it is well known in Brazil. For example, the Report of Social Spending of the Central Government, describes the government’s revenue sources and its social expenditure per area. The publication of detailed information in this report is recent and offers limited information although it has served as the main source to address a generational bias in social spending. It is based on a “static methodology of today’s reality” and neglects the dynamics of citizen’s life chances and as Esping-Andersen et. All. (2002:6), remind us “the core welfare issue is not how many people at any given time are low-paid or ill-housed”.
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In conclusion, we would like to suggest that the evaluation of the social effects of social programs on the well-being of the population at different ages could be a good counterpoint to the evaluation of the studies concerned with the “finances of the social security system and the privileges of the older” or even in terms of the “missed window of opportunities”. In fact, some recent results of the expansion in coverage, quality and efficacy of the social security system suggest a series of benefits for different age groups. The infant mortality rate in Brazil fell by 65% in the decade between 1996 and 2006 but it is still the third-worst in South America (20.4 per 1,000). Some of the high-priority social programs like the efforts to eradicate hunger (“Fome Zero”), creating youth employment (“Primeiro Emprego”), and unifying conditional cash transfer/programs for greater effectiveness in reducing poverty (“Bolsa Família”), and the recuperation of the purchasing power of the minimum wage in the last eight years contributes to making the poorest Brazilians less vulnerable than they were before. However, high levels of income and social inequalities persist. Therefore, in searching for a more complete picture and understanding of policy effects among different age groups, we need a diversity of policy approaches with concerns that go beyond the level of public expenditure alone, like Amartya Sen’s capability approach (1999, 2006).
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How widespread is discrimination in Brazil? Despite Constitutional guarantees, discrimination is part of the everyday life of Brazilians in various settings and at different levels. Discrimination by age in the labor market is scarcely known but the available findings clearly indicate its presence even among an already discriminated group, such as disabled workers (Sampaio, et al. 1999). In 2005 over a quarter of men aged 50 to 65 and 30% of women aged 50 to 59 were defined as economically inactive in Brazil. Although it is difficult for researchers to quantify the contribution of ageism and age discrimination per se to these low activity rates, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that both men and women, as they get closer to the state pension age (SPA), are less and less inclined to look for work. They believe that on the basis of their own experiences to date, that age discrimination will work against them in the labor market.
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Data from the World Values Survey in 2006 showed that almost 5% of Brazilians said they wouldn’t like to have an elderly person as a neighbor in 2006. The good news is that among the 16 groups of people asked as potential neighbors, the elderly were the least rejected. The least desirable group of people to have as a neighbor were drug addicts (20%), followed by minor troublemakers and heavy drinkers with each at about 15 percent of rejection. Another group of undesirable neighbors were prostitutes and former prisoners with about 10 percent of rejections, followed by homosexuals with 6 percent, people with AIDS and favelados (shantytown residents) at 4 percent.
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Discrimination in health shows that when it comes to treating the elderly with ageappropriate medical care, older Brazilians like others in different contexts, become their own worst enemy. Doctors dismiss seniors' aches and pains as an inevitable part of aging rather than probing deeper, as they would for younger patients and then many older people as well as their caregivers seems to internalize the message and fail to seek a second opinion or one from a geriatrician. Health experts say that such fatalism -- and the assumption that everyone over 60 has the same health needs -- has a name: medical ageism. Some find ageism in a widespread failure to promote preventive health measures or manage multiple chronic illnesses and the risk of falls in older patients. Others point to a scarcity of seniors in drug trials and providers' unwillingness to confront their own mortality.
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The medical ageism in Brazil can be exemplified by the AIDS statistics from the 2008 report on the global AIDS epidemic which shows that the number of HIV positive Brazilian women aged 50–59 doubled between 2000 and 2007. Among those aged 60–69 the number grew by 88 percent and those over 70 years increased by 190 percent. Although less marked, the trend among males showed increasing numbers as well. The sharp increase of AIDS among older women in Brazil and some other countries in Latin America generated a debate of the potential causes and those are illustrative of ageism. An important group of causes has to do with the vulnerability of older women for no longer being in reproductive ages. Since there is no risk of pregnancy, it reduces concerns over using condoms, and at the same time after menopause, women are more vulnerable because the vaginal tissues are more fragile. Also, in a gendered context, women’s negotiation for partners to use condoms seems to be more common among unstable unions. Therefore, even in a time of the spreading use of Viagra, the assumption seems to be that older people are not sexually active and that their
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sexuality somehow disappears at certain age. A concrete side effect is a late diagnosis of AIDS among the elderly. Even when they develop AIDS symptoms, the problem remains hidden under other pathologies that are common in the process. Finally, by discounting sexuality among older people, researchers often overlook the risk of sexually transmitted diseases spreading among the elderly (see various expert opinions on Valente, 2008).
A Profile of Elderly Discrimination in Brazil “…o velho brasileiro não existe. Existem varias realidades de velhice referenciadas a diferentes condições de qualidade de vida individual e social”. (Neri, 1993:39)
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There is no single aging model in Brazil and several studies affirm the complexity of drawing a profile of negative or positive perceptions and attitudes without considering the context of individuals’ familiar, professional and personal lives (Cachioni and Aguilar, 2009; Neri and Jorge, 2006). Changes in the notions and values associated with the aging process were documented in urban Brazil through print media articles (Neri, 2003) The historical changes include a transition of aging from a “divine to more worldly concern”; from a “male to predominantly female preoccupation”; from “old age’ to ‘third age”.’ These transitions are intertwined with new moral hierarchies, and are linked to the medicalization of old age in the late twentieth century (Leibing, 2004).
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Another line of studies stresses intergenerational relations. Some results suggest that there is an overall improvement in intergenerational understanding, improvement in elderly health status and young people’s attitude toward old age. Through often enjoyable interactions, young and elderly people also improved their understandings and view of each other. An example is the perceptions of some groups of students revealing how much they feel free to talk to elders and the contact with elders made them more peaceful (Souza, 2003). The quality of the relationship between grandparents and their grandchildren is also explored through the exchange of experiences in the process of generational identity. Some findings reveal the importance of the greater diversity of the family environment in mediating the relationship between youth (ages 1–18) and the old (ages 62–78) and concluded that there is an effective exchange of knowledge, values and care activities between these two groups (Schmidth, 2007).
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The only Brazilian study comparable to the international surveys on ageism was done in the South of Brazil (Couto et al 2009). It seeks to identify the predominant types of discrimination against the old and to measure their relationships with levels of stress. Based on similar questionnaires, the findings were compared with Portugal and the United States. Despite some problems of comparison, (no national sample for Brazil and sample selectivity of those with better health and those active in senior organizations), the authors conclude that the most common type of discrimination were related to the social context and health of individuals. Using a summary indicator of ageism that is based on the frequency and type of discrimination and its associated level of stress, the findings show that ageism was not differentiated by sex, age, school years and self-reported health. However, the level of ageism was greater in those cases in which the elderly were less satisfied with their socioeconomic status.
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Contrary to their expectations levels of stress for most discriminatory situations were, on average, very low. The authors thus conclude that the experience of discrimination is not necessarily explicitly associated with stress and the authors also suggest that the elderly could be using different strategies to cope with negative discrimination. However, they also noted that the non-representative nature of the sample might be leading to these findings. The organizations (Grupos da Terceira Idade) sampled,, held activities and conferences to stimulate the elderly to think positively about their age, potentially increasing elderly selfsteem, and allowing them to more easily deal with prejudices (Couto et A7l 2009).
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Finally, regarding the national comparisons on ageism among the elderly, they found both differences and similarities with Portugal and the United States. As expected, the experiences of age discrimination for elderly Brazilians and Portuguese tended to be more similar than between Brazilians and Americans. The highest levels of violence were suffered by the Brazilian elderly, which is compatible with the general levels in that country. In conclusion, this study suggests that the Brazilian findings endorse the idea that ageism is a generalized and transcultural phenomena.
Conclusions
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With the aging demographic trend, it is especially timely for Brazilian researchers and policymakers to understand how society can shed its institutionalized ageism and promote a society for all ages. The term “ageism” is still not widely known or understood amongst Brazilians and it is barely a focus of policies. However, it is fair to say that although the positive and negatives aspects of ageism are not explicit, the issue of age has appeared on the agenda of governmental policies in the last decade. Legal statutes intended for various age groups like the Statute for the Old, The Statute for Children and Adolescents, and Youth Employment Job Training, along with the social programs enforcing these statutes, are good examples of the recognition of the needs of different age groups. They also reveal a very age-specific public policy system in Brazil. While noticing someone’s age is not inherently offensive, acting on age-based stereotypes clearly is. Such stereotypes should not be part of mainstream policies.
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Ageing generally has a negative image, bound up with fear, stereotypes and alarmist projections about the implications of an ageing population. Although we cannot be entirely sure about why and how it happens, the Brazilian findings show that the practice of ageism is common and not only diminishes the value of the old but also puts their lives at risk, as in the case of AIDS treatment. As in most Western societies, as Brazil grows older, there is likely to be a revolution against 'ageism' as 'the generation shift' follows on from the 'gender shift', although we hope the pace of the first will be faster than the latter. “Old age promises to be a rich resource for society but only if it is accompanied by a shift in attitude away from the negative images that consign elders to the scrapheap,”(Edgar, 1991; Thomas, 2004). Age discrimination and stereotypes are social problems, which society must confront and defeat through awareness and education if its members seek universal equality (Garstka et al 2005). To combat ageism an important question is “ What are the old for?” In the Brazilian context, this requires taking into account the historically unprecedented arrival of a large
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elderly population and some of the common assumptions about the elderly. For example, if older people are viewed as just an expense item on entitlement budgets, then we can understand the alarm of policy – makers and some economists about the costs of social security and the future. However, it is possible that in Brazil, as in other Western societies, we are biased by our contemporary celebration of young adulthood, which some authors believe has displaced other stages of life (childhood and old age) and favors certain values (activity, instrumental mastery, and so forth) over others (Thomas, 2004). On the other hand if the answer to “What are old people for?” entails contribution by the old to all generations, then we can't plan a residential community that is based only on the idea of “service delivery,” no matter how efficient. Behind this argument there is a belief that the new aging generations will be different and will be able to challenge the fear of an aging society, particularly the gloom that old age is nothing but decline (Thomas, 2004).
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Thus, the use of various perspectives to understand ageing and its impacts is very important to guide policies and, after all, for the wellbeing of the individuals. We argue that, in fact, population needs should be viewed with attendant changes in expectations, attitudes and policies in Brazil. We argued that the alarmism that an ageing society increases the dependency ratio, should be countered by some lesser–publicized facts such as the increased participation of women in the labor force, the vast quantities of reciprocal intergenerational help found in Brazilian families, the income that the elderly often provide to families and the common return of grown children to live with their parents. It is important to note here that the elderly-young relations should not be considered merely an economic or help exchanges, but they reflect strong emotional bonds. This has been described as a new form of extended family, based on 'intimacy at a distance'. Therefore, new trends and approaches call for a notion of aged 'dependency' in a broad and very different light or, as we suggest for Brazil, beyond a simple relationship between demographic changes and the economic costs of public services.
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Finally, to recognize ageism as a problem is the first step in eliminating it. The next step it is to choose a method to combat it and to make individuals aware of its consequences. An enduring legacy of family relationships throughout members’ lives is an important aspect of this process. Areas which require further development include: a deeper understanding of the longevity and the increased probabilities of extended-family living arrangements and ties; how knowledge is transmitted across and within the generations; an understanding of the role of biology, gene–environment interactions, and the links between biology and culture; and the study of change and variation across and within generations. Last, but not least, is the need to implement legislation outlawing unfair discrimination by age in general and not only in employment and training, possibly modeled after the EU’s recent policy interventions.
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