The purpose of this research is to examine Americans' beliefs about the labor force participation of older adults before and after the amendment of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) in 1978. Drawing upon Mannheim's (1952) discussion of generational differentiation and age stratification theory) this research considers two models for understanding the relationship between age strata and public support for older workers. The group benefit model predicts that older cohorts are more likely to support older workers because of their chances for receiving related benefits, while the civil liberty model predicts that younger cohorts are more likely to support older workers because of the social change toward greater civil liberty concern. Bases on two national probability surveys of adult Americans, a cross-sequential design is utilized for the cohort analysis of four separate indicators regarding aging and work. The two surveys, conducted in 1974 and 1981, surround the passage of the ADEA amendment in 1978 and provide the opportunity for a quasi-experimental design to assess the impact of this legislation. The design is also beneficial for reexamining the thesis that older people are less responsive to change in the social order. The analytic strategy is twofold. First, a cohort analysis is performed utilizing Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA) based on the strategies outlined by others. Second, an alternative specification is developed where age is replaced by anticipated time until retirement; this strategy should provide a more robust test of the group benefit orientation. Preliminary analysis indicates that age differences are related to the beliefs so that younger cohorts are more likely than older cohorts to support the rights of older workers and consider their problems as substantial. Particular attention is given to a consideration of the age stratification of beneficence in modern society.
