SHUNNING humiliation insult DEGRADATION REJECTION invalidating misrecognition
the following information is from: HUMILIATION, DEGRADATION, DEHUMANIZATION p. Kaufmann et al. (eds.) Library of Ethics and Applied Philosophy 24
Chapter 10
Social Exclusion
Practices of Misrecognition
Steffen K. Hermann,
Department of Philosophy, Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany
the following information is from: HUMILIATION, DEGRADATION, DEHUMANIZATION p. Kaufmann et al. (eds.) Library of Ethics and Applied Philosophy 24
Chapter 10
Social Exclusion
Practices of Misrecognition
Steffen K. Hermann,
Department of Philosophy, Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany
The INSULT is the most basic form of misrecognition, consisting mainly in a rejection. It aims to create a dissociation between the individuals involved. A negative social relationship is thereby created which marks the addressee as a social outsider.
The DEGRADATION is a more powerful form of misrecognition than the insult in that it transforms the rejection into the twofold step of devalorizing and ascribing. In claiming to reveal certain negative characteristics or types of behavior of the addressee, it not only aims to create a dissociation between the individuals involved, but also to emphasize the social inferiority of the addressed person.
The DEBASEMENT consists of a threefold step of invalidation, imposing, and de-individuating. The addressed person is treated as an interchangeable member of a declassed group and not perceived anymore in his or her individuality. This aims at codifying the person as belonging to a worthless social class.
The HUMILIATION contains the three steps of invalidating, imposing, and dehumanizing in which an individual is treated as if she or he were a thing. Practices of humiliation do not recognize their addressee anymore as a social being. They represent the utmost margin of social exclusion, in the sense that what is questioned is no longer the social value of a person, but her or his human existence in its entirety.
