Talk
The other side of the coin: When younger workers are discriminated against
Susana Schmitz (Schmitz, S.); Christin-Melanie Vauclair (Vauclair, C.-M.); Miriam Henriques Rosa (Rosa, M.); David Patient (Patient, D.);
Event Title
International Society for Justice Research 18th biennial conference (ISJR 2021)
Year (definitive publication)
2021
Language
English
Country
--
More Information
--
Web of Science®

This publication is not indexed in Web of Science®

Scopus

This publication is not indexed in Scopus

Google Scholar

Times Cited: 1

(Last checked: 2024-05-26 15:12)

View record in Google Scholar

Abstract
Ageism (age-based discrimination) is the most prevalent form of discrimination, yet still under-researched. Most ageism research focuses on discrimination against older workers, in spite of the fact that individuals can often be judged also as too young. In order to fully understand the role ageism plays in organizations, a better understanding of ageism against younger workers is required. Building on research examining prescriptive stereotypes - that is, “should”-based expectations that seek to control what members of a certain social group are to do - two surveys to shed light on prescriptive stereotypes towards younger workers were conducted. Survey 1 (N=69) asked open-ended questions about age-based expectations regarding younger workers and free listed associations, respectively. Survey 2 (N=77) identified prescriptive and descriptive age stereotypes related to both younger and older workers through real-life critical incidents. Preliminary results show that some of the main age-based expectations regarding younger workers relate to lower status, autonomy, being digital native, conformity, maturity, openness for learning, and vitality. Among the words more commonly used to describe younger workers are “inexperienced”, “lazy”, or “energetic”, and “smart”. Regarding situations of age discrimination, 69 valid situations were described, 60% related to older workers and 40% to younger workers. Feelings regarding, reactions to, and results of these situations are identified and discussed. We contribute to the literature in terms of further understanding ageism against younger workers, namely in regard to prescriptive age stereotypes.
Acknowledgements
--
Keywords
Funding Records
Funding Reference Funding Entity
FCT DL 57/2016/CP1359/CT0027

With the objective to increase the research activity directed towards the achievement of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the possibility of associating scientific publications with the Sustainable Development Goals is now available in Ciência-IUL. These are the Sustainable Development Goals identified by the author(s) for this publication. For more detailed information on the Sustainable Development Goals, click here.