A3 Book section, Chapters in research books
Objectification, Inferiorization, and Projection in Phenomenological Research on Dehumanization (2021)

Heinämaa, S., & Jardine, J. (2021). Objectification, Inferiorization, and Projection in Phenomenological Research on Dehumanization. In M. Kronfeldner (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Dehumanization (pp. 309-325). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429492464-chapter20

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Heinämaa, Sara; Jardine, James

Parent publication: The Routledge Handbook of Dehumanization

Parent publication editors: Kronfeldner, Maria

ISBN: 978-1-138-58815-8

eISBN: 978-0-429-49246-4

Publication year: 2021

Pages range: 309-325

Number of pages in the book: 428

Publisher: Routledge

Place of Publication: Abingdon

Publication country: United Kingdom

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429492464-chapter20

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access:

Abstract

Sara Heinämaa and James Jardine demonstrate that both classical and existential phenomenology offer analytical concepts that are of crucial pertinence and value to contemporary dehumanization research. They begin by outlining an account of dehumanization that distinguishes this phenomenon both from the general operation of objectification and from the violation of autonomy. What is essential to dehumanizing acts and practices they argue, is not objectification or the violation of autonomy per se, but rather a disregard for, and undermining of, the unique singularity of human persons. Moreover, it is proposed that dehumanization ought to be theorized as an intersubjective process that also incorporates how the dehumanizing activity is experienced by the person dehumanized. Two concrete cases of dehumanizing treatment are then discussed in detail: colonial racism and gender hierarchization. The analytical concepts of inferiorization, epidermalization, and emotive projection are introduced to account for some of the specific features of these varieties of dehumanization. The chapter thus argues that dehumanization is not one unified phenomenon but a pattern of social dynamics that emerges in different guises relative to specific practical and historical contexts.

Keywords: phenomenology; humanity (societal properties); oppression; discrimination; racism; intersubjectivity

Free keywords: dehumanization; objectification

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2021

JUFO rating: 3