Age, Old Age, Language, Law

This book addresses the uses and misuses of language to both create and to perpetuate ageism, i.e. negative biases regarding the elderly. The primary focus is on depictions, reports, etc., in the print news media, with attention also addressed to age bias in movies, television, and literature. Legal analysis is presented in an effort to determine whether there are law-based means to combat the rampant age discrimination that these vehicles of communication both create and nurture. Non-legal initiatives for combating ageism also are addressed. The author of this synthesis of sociological, linguistic, and legal sources is a law school professor who is one of the best-known experts in law-and-aging issues in the U.S. He has written extensively on these issues, as well as appeared in numerous public speaking fora, and has litigated as well.