Dehumanization And How It Affects The History Of Psychology

Dehumanization occurs when human qualities are taken away from a person and treated like they are just an object, nothing more. Dehumanization happens throughout the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and the documentaries that were shown in class: “Rise Up: The Legacy of Nat Turner" and "Emancipation Road." Slavery shows how a dehumanization of people from from long ago continues to impact our current and past society.

Dehumanizing is the to be deprived of human qualities or attributes. Throughout Frederick Douglass’s Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass, Douglass did a excellent job with showing how many people in the 1800s were dehumanized. During the 1800s slavery was widely spread through the Southern states, like Maryland where Douglass was born. Douglass was born into slavery and was a former impassioned abolitionist, writer, and orator. Douglass wrote how slavery had impacted African Americans, but also had impacted their white masters. Douglass showed that slavery dehumanized both the slave and the slaveholder.

The idea of race suggests that observed differences in cultural and social status are the product of biologically based differences among major ethnic groups. Out of that distinction the idea of racial superiority was evolved. In the majority of the population’s eyes at that time, the African race was inferior. They were seen as primitive and un-evolved. This was also another justification for the white populations, to both the governments, to uphold slavery as it was seen as a part of nature, and it also justified the idea to themselves. It was an excuse and a rationalisation for their actions, and an explanation to their own morals and Christian values.

Slavery is an institution that has existed since ancient times. To argue over its immorality is irrelevant, as its ethical and moral implications are blatantly evident. However, to say that the main cause of disdain of the institution from the North stems from its immorality is inherently incorrect, due to the fact, that as previously stated, slavery has existed since ancient times, perforce its immorality could not simply be the main cause of hatred toward this withstanding system from the North. Nevertheless, it goes without saying that their disgust toward the peculiar institution (a common name used to refer to slavery) is related to its ethical implications. However, the question still

The Dehumanization Process in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave

First that most white colonizationists believed that free blacks endangered American society. They accepted the popular myth that blacks lack of moral character and the ability to become useful citizens. And the second issue that they considered (white abolitionists stated and confirmed) slavery was evil and reasoned that sending blacks to Africa would ease white anxiety(3)

Dehumanization is a big part of World war II, it is the reason why World War II is the deadliest war in human history, it is also the reason why the soldiers were willing to point their gun at another human being and to end “its” life without a blink. Not only was dehumanizing a big part of this, racism also played a big role as well. Racism is very powerful; it enlarges the hate towards the differences and made people treat their enemies as subhuman. Just as John Dower had mentioned in his book War Without Mercy, “Race hate fed atrocities, and atrocities in turn fanned the fires of the race hate. The dehumanization of the Other contributed immeasurably to the psychological distancing that facilitates killing, not only on the battlefield but also in the plans adopted by strategists far removed from the actual scene of combat” (11).

The content of this book is the history of how Africans were treated in the Americas between 1550 and 1812. The author offered his perspective on how Africans were treated in each historical period, which included the colonial period.

How did slavery continue to exist despite its inhumane practices? Many of these owners employed the ideas of dehumanizing slaves and religion in order to perpetuate their actions. Dehumanization demoted the societal status of slaves, therefore deeming blacks inferior to their white counterparts. Moreover, although directly opposing religious principles of kindness and avoidance of sin, plantation owners used Christianity as a mechanism to mask their inhumanity and encourage their cruelty toward slaves. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass develops themes of dehumanization and religion, which helps readers understand the techniques slave owners utilized to alleviate their guilt, condone malice toward slaves, and preserve supremacy over colored people in Southern society.

Prompt: Douglass maintains that slavery dehumanized both the slave and the slaveholder. Quoting specific passages in the Narrative support this thesis with examples.

Throughout Night, dehumanization consistently took place as the tyrant Nazis oppressed the Jewish citizens. The Nazis targeted the Jews' humanity, and slowly dissolved their feeling of being human. This loss of humanity led to a weakened will in the Holocaust victims, and essentially led to death in many. The Nazis had an abundance of practices to dehumanize the Jews including beatings, starvation, theft of possessions, separation of families, crude murders, forced labor, and much more. There is no greater loss than that of humanity, so one can never truly relate to the horrors of dehumanization the Jews faced. In the list below, I will compile various examples that correlate to this theme of dehumanization.

Through out the entire time period of slavery, religion remained a high priority and a way in which to label different social groups. The lack or complete non-existence of religion among Africans led to them being viewed as somewhat inferior. Later in the second chapter Jordan talks about how during the slave era religion distinguished whites from blacks. Also how classification changed once Africans began to enter the Christian church. He himself viewed this type of labeling somewhat ridiculous, in that many of the Africans were baptized before the came to the New World. Thus they in many circles would be identified as Christians. This important information helps show the reader how the justifications for slavery evolved. Jordan captures the utter and blatant hypocrisy that the colonies exuded with regards to the slave situation. Jordan also sees religious injustice within the treatment of Indians and Africans. The English made attempts to convert the Indians and had little desire or intention to do the same for Africans. This again shows to what lengths early Americans went in creating a subculture for the purpose of slavery.

Douglass confirms that slavery dehumanizes mankind. Douglass’s narrative confirms that slavery does take a dehumanizing toll on slaves and their masters.

Dehumanization can be thought of as the process of losing one’s humanity. It can further be thought of as a way to make one’s “pain and [...] individuality irrelevant” (Garvey, 141). Dr. Moreau wanted to manufacture more humans through the trampling over of the animalism in the animals he experimented on. In order to succeed in his plans, Dr. Moreau must devoid himself of all natural, human, empathy.

Without dehumanizing the black slaves, society cannot to perpetuate the culture of violence necessary to keep a slave based economy intact. People were auctioned like objects and belonging. Just like in the text, dehumanization removes the individuality of the slaves, and they received treatment that are unacceptable for those included in one’s moral community. Moral exclusion reduces restraints against harming or exploiting. Dehumanization removes individuality; by doing so, it makes the violation of generally accepted norms of behavior regarding one's fellow man seem reasonable, or even