section_path: Perspectives/Societal and historical/Contemporary perspectives
section_name: Contemporary perspectives
paragraph_text: Contemporary perspectives
  
  In the modern period, the cultural status of old people has declined in many cultures. Joan Erikson observed that "aged individuals are often ostracized, neglected, and overlooked; elders are seen no longer as bearers of wisdom but as embodiments of shame".
  
  Attitudes toward old age well-being vary somewhat between cultures. For example, in the United States, being healthy, physically, and socially active are signs of a good old age. On the other hand, Africans focus more on food and material security and a helpful family when describing old age well-being. Additionally, Koreans are more anxious about aging and more scared of old people than Americans are.
  
  Research on age-related attitudes consistently finds that negative attitudes exceed positive attitudes toward old people because of their looks and behavior. In his study Aging and Old Age, Posner discovers "resentment and disdain of older people" in American society. Harvard University's implicit-association test measures implicit "attitudes and beliefs" about "Young vis a vis Old". Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People, a book about the test, reports that 80% of Americans have an "automatic preference for the young over old" and that attitude is true worldwide. The young are "consistent in their negative attitude" toward the old. Ageism documents that Americans generally have "little tolerance for older persons and very few reservations about harboring negative attitudes" about them.
  
  Despite its prevalence, ageism is seldom the subject of public discourse.