Discrimination at the schooling level has mainly been examined in terms of gender discrimination or discrimination against certain ethnical groups, while age discrimination mainly has been researched in the area of the labor market. In this paper, I examine the possible existence of age discrimination at Swedish Universities with the help of a difference-in-difference method by comparing standard exams graded both anonymously and non-anonymously. The results found were in line with previous studies regarding the fact that anonymously graded exams overall reduced the grades. Regarding the age discrimination the results indicate that there is discrimination among students aged 27-30, although to a very small extent.

The older population is growing rapidly and businesses must prepare for changes in their workforce. Cases of age discrimination have also become more common. Older workers are being forced out of their jobs at a faster rate than any other age group. As a result, older workers commonly take jobs in different careers, where they compete with younger workers who have similar relevant experience and are valued for their youth. Both prototype matching theory and career timetables theory state that people hold stereotypes of the job in addition to stereotypes of people. In laboratory research, a mismatch between the age of the worker and the age-type of the job has led to lower evaluations, lower job suitability ratings, and other indicators of discrimination. The purpose of this thesis is to assess whether the construct of age-type is related to discrimination in real-world legal cases. Real life instances of discrimination were attained from a 15-year sample of 388 age discrimination jury verdicts and settlements. Each job in the sample of cases was rated to determine age-type, perceived proportion of older and younger workers in the job, and importance of stereotypically older worker features to the job. Results showed that all forms of age stereotypes, both general and specific, were related to the frequency of cases in jobs associated with older or younger stereotypes. Specifically, older workers were more likely to have age discrimination cases go to trial in younger age-typed jobs. However, these variables did not help to predict formal outcomes of the cases (win vs. loss). Among the cases that did win, cases in older age-typed jobs won significantly more money than in younger age-typed jobs.

As the American population ages, the issues of aging and work have gradually come to the forefront. An older and increasingly diverse workforce has raised concerns over job performance, labor costs, and alternative work demands. At the same time, evidence indicates that older workers continue to experience extensive labor market problems due to false assumptions on the part of managers about the limiting effect of age on employee performance. The public sector's ability to respond to age-related issues in the workplace has largely been ignored by both public practitioners and researchers. This study addresses the questions of whether age negatively influences public personnel decisions, and if so, whether such influences adversely affect the treatment of older workers. The results of the survey indicate that public managers are susceptible to age bias when making personnel decisions.

As the workforce ages, enabling individuals to work effectively across the lifespan is critical for individuals, organizations, and societies. Put simply, societies and organizations are beginning to face a "new normal" in which people must continue working later in life. Investigations of work ability (WA), an individual's ability to meet the demands of their job, is a line of research that facilitates our understanding of the factors related to working successfully across the lifespan. Although research has established that WA is influenced by a range of organizational and personal factors and linked WA to retirement and disability, a number of gaps and underlying conceptual issues have limited the value of the WA research to the organizational sciences. Through a series of three studies -- a meta-analysis (Study 1a) with k = 247 studies and N = 312,987 individuals, a supplemental online data collection (Study 1b), a nurse sample (Study 2), and a healthcare sample (Study 3) -- this dissertation draws on the JD-R model to move the WA literature forward and advance WA theory within the organizational science literature. Study 1 provides a quantitative synthesis of the WA literature, establishes its nomological network, and provides a straightforward conceptual definition of WA. This synthesis provides a roadmap for researchers and practitioners by highlighting leverage points to promote WA across the lifespan. Second, these studies answer lingering questions regarding the concept of WA. In doing so, these studies provide a clear conceptual distinction between WA as measured by the Work Ability Index (WAI), which includes health-based questions, and measures of perceived WA (PWA), which are perceptions of WA as rated by individual. PWA measures performed similarly to the WAI in the vast majority of analyses, lending substantial support to the use of relatively simple PWA measures. Third, Study 1 and Study 2 provide evidence that PWA explains unique variance in organizational (e.g., engagement, burnout) and personal (e.g., disability intentions, health) correlates above and beyond the established constructs of perceived fit, general self-efficacy, and job self-efficacy. Fourth, Study 2 identified age discrimination as an important yet understudied antecedent of WA and showed that PWA can serve as a mediator between age discrimination and negative outcomes (e.g., lower life satisfaction and task performance). Finally, Study 3 showed that PWA is related to supervisor ratings of task and creative performance. Taken together, these three studies situate WA within the organizational literature and provide substantial evidence of the value of WA for meeting the challenges of an aging and age-diverse workforce.

Despite the availability, capability, and inclination of older workers to remain in the workforce, research indicates that older workers are generally perceived and evaluated less favorably than younger workers (cf., Kite, Stockdale, Whitley, &Johnson, 2005). However, little is known about what factors lead older workers to be perceived less favorably. Up until this point, research investigating attitudes towards older workers has been limited to traditional work contexts. However, telework is an increasingly popular alternative work context and may be more appropriate for older workers. Another possible factor relating to evaluations of older workers is knowledge about age-related changes in ability. For example, the task demands of a job may be particularly high in fluid ability or crystallized ability. The work context and task demands of a job may be two potential sources of influence regarding perceptions of older workers. In the current set of studies, I examined the impact of applicant age, work context (telework and office work), and task demands (fluid ability and crystallized ability) on participants ratings of younger and older job applicants. In Study 1, a total of 16 job descriptions were selected based on their suitability and dependency on: office work/crystallized ability, office work/fluid ability, telework/crystallized ability, telework/fluid ability. Hiring managers recognized the jobs that were suited to telework or office work, but did not distinguish when either fluid or crystallized ability was of primary importance to a particular job. In Study 2, participants rated either younger or older applicants for 4 jobs selected from Study 1. The results of Study 2 were compelling. Older applicants were rated as more qualified when the job was dependent on crystallized ability, as well as when the job took place in a telework context. However, there were no significant differences between older and younger applicants when the job was dependent on fluid ability, or when the job took place in an office work context. The current research is critical to understanding the influence of task demands and the work context on differences between evaluations of older and younger workers.

Diskriminacija dėl amžiaus yra viena iš opiausių diskriminacijos rūšių plačiai paplitusi darbo teisiniuose santykiuose. Nepaisant to, ši problema yra mažai išnagrinėta teisinėje literatūroje, o teismų išaiškinimų beveik nėra. Lietuvoje tik 2005 metais įsigaliojo specialusis Lygių galimybių įstatymas, skirtas užtikrinti darbuotojų lygias galimybes darbo sferoje nepaisant jų amžiaus, tačiau nuostatos yra gan abstrakčios ir neišbaigtos. Be to, ir pati visuomenė pasyviai reaguoja į diskriminaciją dėl amžiaus darbo sferoje ir dažnai netgi ją nuolankiai pateisina. Dėl to diskriminacija dėl amžiaus ir toliau egzistuoja faktiškai, sąlygodama darbo teisinių santykių dalyvių nelygias galimybes bei neigiamas ekonomines, socialines ir psichologines pasėkmes diskriminuojamų asmenų ir netgi valstybės atžvilgiu. Šis darbas išskiria dvi pagrindines neteisėtos diskriminacijos dėl amžiaus formas: tiesioginę ir netiesioginę. Tiesioginė diskriminacija suvokiama kaip sąmoningas skirtingų įdarbinimo arba atleidimo iš darbo sąlygų sudarymas darbuotojams dėl jų amžiaus. Tai suponuoja draudimą darbdaviams darbo skelbimuose nurodyti pageidaujamo pretendentų amžiaus ribas, dėl ko skirtingo amžiaus asmenys yra iš anksto diskvalifikuojami dėl savo asmeninių, o ne dalykinių savybių. Tiesioginė diskriminacija apima ir tokius atvejus, kai darbdavys savo sprendimą atsisakyti sukurti darbo teisinius santykius arba juos nutraukti su tam tikro amžiaus darbuotojais grindžia ne objektyviomis... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Labor relationship is based on the principle of equality that outlaws the discimination of labour law subjects on the ground of their age in any stage of employment, including recruitment and dismissal, which are the focal stages of this paper. Despite this formal declaration of equality, factual instances of age discrimination are widespread and have a tendency to grow, as a result of which the constitutional right to work is violated and human dignity is injured. Considering this, the European Council promulgated Directive 2000/78/EB to tackle the issue of age discrimination in employment and occupation particularly. Being responsible for the implementation of the Directive, the Republic of Lithuania issued a special Equal Opportunities Law, which came into effect as of 1 January 2005. In spite of the legal basis, there is almost no case law on age discrimination and only a few scholarly researches have been done in this field, therefore the problem of age discrimination remains poorly explored and existing in practice. In general, national laws protect employees/public officials against direct and indirect age discrimination upon recruitment and dismissal. Direct discrimination refers to the situation where an employee/public official is not employed or is dismissed only because of his/her age. It covers not only employer’s expressive indication of a preferable age for work (esp. typical to job offers) but also the reliance on factors directly linked to age... [to full text]

The concept of 'ageism' has often been thought to be of limited moral concern, especially in comparison to other forms of discrimination such as racism and sexism. Nevertheless, there are also those who believe that ageism is morally significant, and there are diametrically opposed views within liberal and egalitarian theory as to whether age discrimination is or is not just. This thesis has two objectives. Firstly, it seeks to overcome the apparent vagueness of the concept that has given rise to such diametrically opposed views concerning ageism by examining exactly what the phenomenon involves. It defines the wrongfulness of much age discrimination as originating in either the nature of the reasons for which people discriminate against the old or the nature of the consequences for the individuals affected. In the course of the thesis I make several important distinctions, the most important of which are between the social and moral worth of a person, and between the synchronic and diachronic interests of a person. These distinctions allow us to distinguish between a culturally oppressive ageism and ageism that is justified by reasons of equality and efficiency. The former is intrinsically morally wrong, the latter extrinsically wrong. The second aim of the thesis is to develop an anti-ageist ethical principle capable of challenging both forms of ageism in a comprehensive way, and which is consistent with a broader liberal egalitarian political theory. This is achieved by drawing on the distinction between the irreducible nature of each person's synchronic and diachronic interests. I have identified the principle that we should protect the synchronic interests of older persons with a democratic social egalitarianism that seeks to equalise the social relations between citizens rather than concentrating upon an equality of distribution. It is in this way that I also connect the debate about the morality (or otherwise) of age discrimination with debates within contemporary liberal egalitarian philosophy.

Thesis (Ed.D.) -- Teachers College, Columbia University, 1991. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Richard Anderson. Dissertation Committee: Thomas A. Leemon. Includes bibliographical references: (leaves 124-128).

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc. Psychology)--University of Waikato, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-115) Also available via the World Wide Web.

Demographic changes have facilitated longer, healthier lives, and legislative changes have encouraged extended working lives through the increasing of state pension age, equalisation of state pensions, and the removal of the default retirement age. Recent age discrimination legislation has begun to combat age discrimination within the employment context of the UK. Legal precedent has also been established during the course of this research through case law, as a result of high profile age discrimination cases reaching the Supreme Court. Through several interview studies, this thesis explores the experiences, views and attitudes of employees, employers, job seekers and retired individuals. Utilising focus groups, this thesis also presents data from a range of charity representatives, human resources professionals, line managers, employment advisors, health and safety practitioners, and trade union representatives in order to explore the influence of changes in later life working policy and practice. The research of this thesis also includes a consultation exercise to engage the potential users of the research and develops a policy and practice framework providing recommendations which could lead to better outcomes and improved opportunities for older workers. Finally, a series of video case studies presents the research findings in an accessible visual format. This varied use of communication methods was specifically selected in order to increase the impact of the research and potential user audience. Research findings highlighted that managing age diversity was perceived as essential for employee motivation and organisational competitiveness. In particular, interviewees from generationally diverse workforces also reported a more positive attitude to age. Evidence from this thesis presents direct examples of age discrimination limiting the employment opportunities of older workers. Potential victims of age discrimination often struggle to gather evidence to support their perception that they may have been mistreated due to their age. Especially for job seekers, the perception of age discrimination presents a significant barrier to confidence, motivation, and opportunities during the employment search. These concerns are also exacerbated by the most widely reported barrier to securing employment for older jobseekers which was insufficient feedback. While a small minority of employers discussed discriminatory practices, the majority were positive towards age diversity and embraced the benefits of older workers. Responsibility for retirement transitions and performance management as older employees reach the end of their careers were issues employers reported struggling with in light of the removal of the default retirement age. The findings of this thesis highlight the importance of challenging age stereotypes and embracing the opportunities that a multi-generational workforce offers in order to increase equality of opportunity and promote age positive organisational culture. All parts of society have a shared responsibility to change attitudes towards older workers, and offer workers of all ages the equality they deserve.