Digital Ageism, Algorithmic Bias and Feminist Critical Theory

Abstract

In this chapter, Nyrup, Chu, and Falco coin the term digital ageism to highlight the interplay between social inequality and tech development, aligning with feminist work that views society and technology as co-constitutive. The essay details the results of encoded ageism, including medical technologies that offer less accurate diagnoses on older populations, the unequal division of resources, and the perspective that younger people are inevitably better at using new technologies. Drawing on the work of Sally Haslanger and Iris Marion Young, they explore how technical limitations and the insufficient representation of older people in design and development teams are shaped by self-reinforcing structural inequality. This essay therefore offers a crucial intervention in the debate by identifying and tracking ageist harms and their intersections with disability, race, gender, and class-based injustices.