Ageism In The Workplace Essay

The issue of ageism in Singapore’s workforce will be studied through a qualitative analysis of a specific institution: the Singapore Police Force (SPF). Ageism is a form of discrimination whereby individuals are treated differently according to their age group (Marshall,2007:260), and the presence of ageism in a law enforcement agency could potentially reflect a greater degree of discrimination in other areas of the workforce. Furthermore, ageist and stigmatising actions have the potential to worsen the effect of Singapore’s ageing population crisis and the dwindling workforce. Although Singapore has adopted policies in an attempt to overcome the stigmatising effect on elderly, it has not addressed the root cause of stigma, and has overlooked

The National Longitudinal Surveys of Mature Women (NLSMW) and Young Women (NLSYM) is explored as a secondary data source to determine an individual’s lifetime exposure towards age discrimination. A deductive approach was employed by hypothesising that ageism exists and that it fluctuates throughout the life course of an individual. Their data supported their hypothesis, showing a curvilinear pattern which suggests that perceived age discrimination is high in the 20s, lowest in 35, rise between 35 to 55, and subsequently declines thereafter. It was also discussed that this figure of perceived age discrimination potentially reflects actual discrimination. This use of secondary data reduces the cost and time required to conduct the research (Bryman,2012:311-313), but it was biased towards the study of women’s perception and not indicative of the whole population. Furthermore, detailed analysis was required to eradicate data outside the research framework. Nonetheless, the researchers successfully showed that ageism does not progress in a linear fashion and that it targets all age groups, which supports the point of this research in studying youth