Social Forces

Marshall, Victor W.
Advancing the Sociology of Ageism: A Special Section
Social Forces - Volume 86, Number 1, September 2007, pp. 257-264

The University of North Carolina Press

Victor W. Marshall - Advancing the Sociology of Ageism: A Special Section - Social Forces 86:1 Social Forces 86.1 (2007) 257-264 Muse Search Journals This Journal Contents Advancing the Sociology of Ageism A Special Section edited by: Victor W. Marshall University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Social Forces sought papers for this special section that address age discrimination and related phenomena across the life course and in a range of social contexts. We said that papers might focus on the social processes, institutions and structures that cause or constitute age discrimination, or on social psychological and other consequences of age discrimination. We distinguished age discrimination, which is behavior, from ageist attitudes, and welcomed papers that analyze the relationship between ageist attitudes and age discrimination. We were also interested in papers that analyze the intersection of age discrimination and other forms of discrimination based on gender, race and class. Finally, we noted that papers making a theoretical contribution in this area would be particularly welcomed, as would empirical papers based on any sound methodological approach. To a large extent we were successful. Drawing on Feagin and McKinney (2003), Gee, Pavalko and Long note in their contribution that, "Discrimination can be defined as the actions arising from institutions and individuals that disproportionately and systematically harm members of socially marginalized...