An Analysis and Response from the Perspective of Humanities for the Disgust toward Elderly

This study aims to analyze the phenomenon of disgust for the elderly in the digital era from the perspective of humanities, overcoming the limitations of the existing sociological approach and addressing the phenomenon of the disgust for the elderly at a more fundamental level. By analyzing the problem of disgust for the elderly from a psychological, linguistic, and philosophical perspectives rather than social structural levels such as industrialization, urbanization, nuclear familyization, individualism, and neoliberalism, this study attempts to show that gerontophobia is a projection of the heterogeneous existence of humans and the fear and anxiety of death into the existence of the elderly, and is the result of the linguistic thinking and the philosophy of identity. In order to cope with the disgust for the elderly, this study emphasizes that it is necessary to accept the elderly as individual beings, not as a collective concept, through the redistribution of the sensible and aesthetic reproduction of emotions about the elderly and to create solidarity and empowerment for the elderly.