ch they are excluded. Ageism is the product of stereotypes and prejudices applied to older individuals in society (Binstock, 1983). As is true of most stereotypes and prejudices, there is often a kernel of fact associated with many of the stereotypes and prejudices associated with the elderly. When used to support stereotypes and prejudices, however, these kernels of fact are often distorted, misinterpreted, or generalized in ways which promote unwarranted, unfair, and unacceptable attitudes and policies toward the elderly, which yield outcomes which are highly detrimental to their interests, and to the interests of society as a whole. 3
THE CHARACTER, AND PREVALENCE OFDISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE AGED
Economists hold that job discrimination exists when a specific group of employees are denied employment, denied advancement, or paid less than other groups, when all other conditions of employment remain equal (Gwartney, Stroup, and Studenmund, 1989). Some researchers contend that such discrim ination does not exist in the United States on a massive scale (Manke, 1971). These researchers conclude generally that some individuals neither earn the same wages nor hold the same jobs as members of other groups because employers believe that, on the average, the probability of turnover is much higher for women than it is for men, and for minority group persons than whites, and that older workers are not as productive as are younger workers (Manke, 1971).
These supposed beliefs on the part of employers are said to cause those employers to: (1) hire members from the affected population groups for (a) the higher paying job positions in the organization, and (b) for those job positions in the organ ization, which have the best advancement opportunities; and (2)fail to offer or provide to those members of affected popula tion groups who are hired the training which will prepare them for advancement to better paying jobs in the organiza...