Grumpy old dogs and young pups

When we think of older people, we think of them as getting stiffer, more close-minded in their opinions.  In short, "as rigid as their arteries" as Nicholas Danigelis, a sociologist at the University of Vermont says.

Yet the opposite is true.  People grow more liberal and tolerant as they age; their political attitudes grow more liberal and flexible. 

Danigelis in a recent study published in the October 2007 American Sociological Review,  looked at the political attitudes of 46, 520 people. 

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

Yes, older Americans are less tolerant of gays, blacks or women in certain positions of authority. But they were less likely to hold onto those prejudices.  In some areas – censorship of library books or unpopular public speakers – the group of people in the older age bracket has became more open-minded over the last 30 plus years as younger people went in the other direction, this survey found.

“Both the grumpy young people and the grumpy old people became more tolerant over the years,” said Danigelis, in an interview. “But the grumpy old people did so at a much quicker pace.”

They may be old dogs, but they are open to new opinions, more so than the young pups. 

Ah, the benefits of living a long life.