INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN AGEISM AND CONSUMERISM:

THE GENERATIONAL EPISTEMICIDE OF A MARKET-ORIENTED SOCIETY

Abstract

The article investigates the intersectionalities between ageism and consumerism, analyzing how these social phenomena produce the marginalization of aging bodies and the exclusion of traditional knowledge in a neoliberal society. The study examines the historicity of the term ageism and its conceptual evolution, introduces the concept of epistemicide, and explores its connection to the symbolic erasure of elderly people’s knowledge. The theoretical discussion revisits reflections by classical and modern philosophers on old age, including Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, and Simone de Beauvoir, in order to understand how different periods addressed the experience of aging. The text also analyzes Zygmunt Bauman’s contribution in conceptualizing liquid modernity and the logic of consumerism, which intensify the standardization of bodies and reinforce the marginalization of older adults. Furthermore, it explores Foucault’s notion of biopower and the impacts of surveillance capitalism and algorithmic discrimination in consolidating a digital epistemicide. The methodology employed consists of bibliographic and documentary research, adopting an interdisciplinary approach grounded in critical theories. The results show that neoliberalism, by valuing productivity and youth, reinforces the social and epistemic exclusion of the elderly population. It concludes that the fusion of ageism, consumerism, and epistemicide generates a market-oriented society that devalues memory, accumulated knowledge, and the dignity of old age, demanding theoretical and practical resistances that promote inclusion and recognition.