Second50Years Marketing Blog

If you think that people’s ideas petrify when they move into the upper age ranges, think again!

In a recent study published in the American Sociological Review (Oct 2007), Nicholas L. Danigelis, a sociologist at the U of Vermont, found that as people age they actually become more liberal and flexible in their political views.

Danigelis says, “We found no support for the bogeyman of gerontology, which is that the older you get, the more conservative and rigid you become.”

The study, using data from the National Opinion Research Center’s General Social Surveys, looked at the political attidudes of 46,510 American adults from 1972 to 2004. They analyzed attitudes toward women and blacks; their support of civil rights for such groups a communists, racists, and atheists; and their opinions about issues such as divorce, extramarital sex, and the right to die. The researchers were especially interested in how the atitudes of older people age 60 and up compared to the attitudes of people who were under the age of 40.

The researchers found that while American culture as a whole became more liberal over those years, the older people became more liberal more quickly than younger people did. Interestingly, the older group got more liberal on some things, such as protecting free speech for unpopular groups, while the younger set became less tolerant.

It is reasonable to ask, if older people become more liberal as they age, why do we continue to stereotype them as cantankerous old fogies?

Danigelis poses two possibilties: the American Revolution that overturned a patriarchy in favor of new ideas of liberty and equality and set in motion a “systematic dismantling of the stature of older folks”; and the industrial revolution that spawned the need for youth and dexterity in manufacturing rather than the accumulated wisdom of elders that was needed during an agrarian age.

Danigelis points out that many other cultures revere their elders and are likely to see their resistance to change as “thinking two or three moves down the road, rather than evidence of rigid thinking.”

The researcher says that although, as baby boomers age, some stereotypes of aging are moderating, he fears that “we’re creating new stereotypes that are just as scary….such as that of old people as an interest group whom you don’t want to cross because the AARP and Gray Panthers are going to come after you.”

Danigelis wants organizations to know that older workers are assets. He says, “Older people have experience, they have knowledge, and they have the ability to adapt.”

How does this research connect with older consumers? It is in line with some studies that show older people change brands as easily as younger groups. For instance, a study about women found that women grow more open-minded, not less, as they age. In fact, older women are more likely to say they enjoy trying new things as they age, and are less likely to describe themselves as ’set in their ways.’

Other research has shown that brand loyalty seems to differ across product categories for both young and older consumers. So, young and old tend to buy the same brand of car over time while loyalty to airlines and hotels is very weak for both sets of consumers.

The take-away is that marketers must adapt to what research shows and jettison their ideas about the inflexibility of older people.

Sources:

• Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2008, P. 15.
• Women’s Changing Mindsets About Aging
• Senior Consumption: Brand Loyalty: Product More Important Then Age