A person’s age is not only a numerical or chronological bit of data. The social construction of age – that is, “ageism” – and the cultural meaning of this construction reflect values, prejudices, emotional bias, and institutional discrimination. Ageism in the Israeli Society: The Social Construction of Old Age in Israel offers readers, for the first time in Israel, a comprehensive and critical survey of ageism, in both its general theoretical context and its Israeli social context.

The book is a collection of articles by members of a research group at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute comprising scholars, academics, and professionals in nursing and geriatrics. The group surveyed the entire spectrum of ageism in Israel and addressed a variety of questions, among them, What is ageism? To what extent is the phenomenon measurable? To what extent can one say that Israeli society is “ageist”? How is ageism manifested? In addition to these broad questions the book presents studies of ageism in professional fields such as nursing and physiotherapy, as well as in communications and law.