dehumanisation
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Noun:
- The act or process of depriving a person or group of positive human qualities: This involves treating people as if they lack human dignity, individuality, or compassion, often reducing them to objects, numbers, or stereotypes.
- The condition of being degraded or stripped of human attributes: This refers to the state resulting from such treatment, where individuals or groups are perceived or treated as less than human.
Usage and Examples
- Noun:
- The systematic dehumanisation of the enemy population was a key tactic in the propaganda war.
- Critics argue that some industrial processes lead to the dehumanisation of workers, treating them merely as cogs in a machine.
- The novel explores the psychological dehumanisation experienced by prisoners.
Advanced Usage
- Conceptual/Theoretical Usage: In sociology and ethics, "dehumanisation" is analyzed as a psychological process that enables cruelty, discrimination, and violence by denying the humanity of others.
- The study focused on the role of dehumanisation in justifying historical atrocities.
- Institutional Dehumanisation: Refers to policies, systems, or bureaucratic practices that treat individuals impersonally.
- The long, impersonal forms were a form of bureaucratic dehumanisation.
Variants and Related Words
- Dehumanize (verb): To deprive of human qualities or attributes.
- Propaganda is often used to dehumanize the opposing side.
- Dehumanizing (adjective): Describing a process or treatment that removes human dignity.
- The prisoners endured dehumanizing conditions.
- Dehumanized (adjective): Describing the state of having been stripped of human qualities.
- The survivors felt utterly dehumanized by their ordeal.
Synonyms
- Brutalization: The act of making someone brutal, inhumane, or less sensitive.
- Degradation: The condition of being lowered in dignity or status.
- Objectification: The act of treating a person as an object or thing.
Antonyms
- Humanization: The act of endowing with human qualities or attributes; making humane.
- Empowerment: The process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights.
Related Concepts and Phrases
- "The banality of evil": A concept often linked to dehumanisation, describing how ordinary people can commit atrocities through thoughtless, bureaucratic, or routinized actions that ignore human individuality.
- "Othering": The process of perceiving or portraying a person or group as fundamentally different from and alien to oneself, which is a precursor to dehumanisation.
Noun
- the act of degrading people with respect to their best qualities
- science has been blamed for the dehumanization of modern life