Old Age Stigmatization

Abstract

Surprisingly, the discourse on ageism hardly profits from stigma research despite their common denominator—discrimination. The goal of this article is to discuss the stigma concept developed on micro-level interactions and apply it to ageism research on the macro level, i.e. using Round 4 data of the representative international European Social Survey (2008). The data analysis is focused on dominant opinions of the Lithuanian population (N=2002) and usual behavior toward older people, while international comparison is used for interpretation of results. The results show that old age in the Lithuanian society is an “open secret” type of stigma: verbal praise of older people, high assessment of their morals and polite declaration of respect conceal intolerance, disregard and discrimination on the behavioral level. The old age stigma is widespread in Lithuania and stronger than in advanced European countries. Its level is close to discrimination particular to other post-communist and Mediterranean countries.