Page 234 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

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Age Discrimination
in the Workplace

Lynn M. Shore 1
San Diego State University

Caren B. Goldberg
The George Washington University

Our preoccupation with youthfulness has tended to undermine the importance
and wealth of experience offered by our senior members. Indeed, Golda Meir
became prime minister at age seventy-one. The New York Mets hired Casey
Stengel as their manager when he was seventy five. Not to be forgotten are
Benjamin Franklin who worked on the U.S. Constitution at eighty-one, and
Milton Petrie, who at ninety, still presides over Petrie Stores.
—Paul and Townsend (1993, p. 67)

With the aging of the U.S. work force (U.S. Department of Labor, 2002), and
evidence that age discrimination can lead to feelings of uselessness, pow­
erlessness, and lower self-esteem (Butler, 1969; Cowgill, 1974; Hassell &
Perrewe, 1993), it is important that we continue to explore issues pertaining
to age discrimination. In addition to demographic trends, there are several

1
This chapter was prepared while Lynn Shore was a visiting professor at the Graduate
School of Management, University of California, Irvine.
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