“Old Oxen Cannot Plow”: Stereotype Themes of Older Adults in Turkish Folklore

Although much research has established the nature of attitudes and stereotypes toward older adults, there are conflicting explanations for the root cause of ageism, including the sociocultural view and interpersonal views, that age bias against older adults is uniquely a product of modernity and occurs through social interactions, and the evolutionary view and intraindividual views, that age bias against older adults is rooted in our naturally occurring and individually held fear of death. We make initial investigations into resolving this conflict, by analyzing literature from a society predating the Industrial Revolution, the society of Ottoman Turks.