This proposed study seeks to examine whether ageism is present in Singapore’s workforce by focusing on a specific institution: the Singapore Police Force (SPF). Patterns of phenomena relating to various age groups are prevalent in Singaporean society. As such, it cannot simply be taken to be a form of biased common sense knowledge. Examination of its underlying meanings are necessary to prove or disprove the stereotypic phenomena, and may contribute to other aspects of societal study, using government organization as inference.
Ageism is a form of discrimination, whereby individuals are treated differently according to their age group (Marshall, 2007: 260). The presence of ageism poses adverse consequences of marginalization throughout society.…show more content… Conversational engagement with target audiences of varying ages, gender and employment status, will aim to obtain ‘verstehen’ — a concept first proposed by Weber — to comprehend social reality from an actor’s perspective (Segre, 2014). Together with the evaluation of pre-existing statistics, stereotypic statements currently present in the society will be utilized to develop potential research hypotheses such as ‘Elderly are more likely to experience discrimination on the basis of their age’, ‘individuals’ experiences of ageism may differ according to gender’, or ‘people in varying age groups attach labels to other age groups’. Questions concerning topics for instance, whether older or younger workers are more valuable, whether certain age groups are harder to work with, and whether gender influences experiences of ageism, will be asked, but in order to achieve true verstehen, they will only serve as a guide. Individuals will be encouraged to direct the interview in accordance to what they consider to be most important, so as to gain a full understanding of their…show more content… Ageism would then be recognized to be occurring in varying age group, not uniquely to the elderly. Policy makers may build on the concept in finding a solution to manage the aging population, and secure a stable economy. Labelling engenders adverse consequences on individuals’ well-being and the solidarity of a nation state. Examining ageism in Singapore’s workforce will therefore be a fundamental step to improving government policy, as well as filling a knowledge gap in the sociological literature concerning