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othering

othering

1 8.8
Treating people as different and outside your group, often leading to exclusion
  • noun
  • /ˈʌðərɪŋ/
  • Offensive
translation icon : otredad
  • The documentary explores how othering contributes to the marginalization of various communities.
  • process of othering
  • othering and gendering
  • privileging and othering

Examples

  • Left both use the 'othering' tactic; let us be clear about that.

    Blog text (12)
  • For Said, Orientalism produces national and supranational identities through the othering of a geographical space external to the state or group of states.

    Academic text (2003)
  • The first section introduces the conception and spells out the impact of national "Othering" on foreign policy.

    Academic text (2014)
  • At least two broadly defined motivations give rise to a particular mode of national othering.

    Academic text (2014)
  • The other motivation is to use national Othering to legitimize certain policies or political ideologies.

    Academic text (2014)
  • Relationship-building provides the means to resist the effects of othering and to blur boundaries between its students and the dominant, more powerful groups.

    Academic text (2018)
  • Moreover, the self-other social boundaries are not fixed or consistently salient, nor do the targets and modes of Othering stay the same.

    Academic text (2014)
  • The first part of this article analyzes the irresolvable paradox of the Turkish Republic by examining the process of "othering" Islam.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Thanks to hard-won insights, however, feminists are among those best equipped to detect and refuse the practices of othering, gendering, or universalizing.

    Academic text (1991)
  • The concept of othering can severely affect social relations by creating divides between groups.

Synonyms

alienation
vsothering
30 7.4

Feeling of being alone and separate from other people

focuses on perceiving others as different and outside rather than on the feeling
outcasting
vsothering
  • Archaic
8.5

Leaving someone out of a group so they cannot join in

treats people as fundamentally different rather than only expelling them

Antonyms

65 3.7

Being part of a group, activity, or process

How Alienating

dehumanization
  • Offensive
4 7.8
ostracism
4 7.9
marginalization
  • US
8 7.9
othering
  • Offensive
1 8.8
exclusion
64 4.2

Surface Forms

othering singular
otherings plural

Morphology

othering = other (transparent) = other + ing

Derived from the verb 'other' plus '-ing' to name the process; the meaning of an action or process is straightforward from the base.

Etymology

Othering comes from the word other meaning 'different' and the ending -ing meaning 'the act of'. So othering is the act of seeing or treating people as 'outside' your group, which can make them feel left out and cause misunderstanding.