Ageism
- Submission status
- Open
- Submission deadline
This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG-10: Reduced inequalities.
Age shapes how individuals move through the world and structures how societies allocate value, visibility, care, and opportunity. Ageism, whether directed at older adults or children, operates widely and intersects with gender, race, class, disability, sexuality and migration, shaping experiences of marginalisation or privilege at different stages of life. Although often discussed in terms of workforce discrimination or eldercare, ageism more widely influences access to technology, participation in civic life, representations in literature and media, intergenerational relations, and the ethics of care in ageing societies.
In an era marked by demographic shifts, longer life expectancies, post-pandemic reflections on vulnerability and care, and global debates about generational justice, ageism demands renewed interdisciplinary attention. This Collection invites scholarship that explores ageism in all its forms.
We welcome work from across the humanities and social sciences, including sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, media and film studies, gender and sexuality studies, disability studies, philosophy, psychology (non-clinical), political science, education, history, and related fields.
We invite papers that engage with topics including (but not limited to):
- Narratives of age and cultural representations in literature, film, television, digital cultures and visual arts
- Intersections of ageism with race, gender, class and disability
- Ageing, embodiment and identity: bodily norms, beauty standards, sexuality, and the politics of the “ageing body.”
- Youth, adulthood and generational politics: perceptions of young people as “irresponsible” or “inexperienced”; political narratives about generational conflict, climate responsibility and economic inequality
- Work, labour and economic precarity: age-based barriers in hiring, retention, retirement policies and unpaid care work; the status of older and younger workers
- Ageism in healthcare and social policy: ethical questions in medical decision-making, access to care, long-term care systems, and the framing of vulnerability in public discourse
- Digital technologies and age: how platform design, digital literacy, algorithmic systems and surveillance practices reproduce or resist age-based exclusions
- Global and cross-cultural perspectives: comparative studies on ageism across societies; ageing and youth in postcolonial contexts; intergenerational traditions and transformations.
We particularly encourage interdisciplinary work, research that challenges normative assumptions about age and ageing, and contributions that foreground marginalised voices—whether older adults, young people or communities facing intersecting forms of discrimination.
