Ageism and Disharmonizing: What Can Civic Education Do?

Abstract

The increment of elderly population in the world has impacted on some aspects of human life, namely culture, politic and economy. This article discusses the phenomenon of ageism in society as a stereotype against elderly. The emergence of this view triggers the appearance of age discrimination, where the generations are socially divided, that leads to social disharmony. This phenomenon was studied from the perspective of Civic Education by using phenomenology study approach. The data were collected by interviewing 32 informants, observing some nursing homes and public places, doing library research, and surveying 466 respondents. This study was conducted in three provinces in Indonesia, namely DKI Jakarta, West Java and Yogyakarta. This study reveals that Global citizenship has not yet reached population ageing issue; and there is a gap of communication between young people and elderly that impacts on their mindset, communication pattern, and even triggers labeling given by young people to elderly, and vice versa. Thus, this study concludes that as the elderly population increases, ageism becomes a cultural challenge that should be faced and solved to maintain a harmonious relation among generations. Anti-ageism is recommended to be one of crucial issues that should be incorporated, discussed and developed in Civic Education and it is also suggested to be inclusive education program plan.