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“The Other” as Social Construct

“The Other” as Social Construct. ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How is “the other” portrayed in American Literature?. Social Construct. A social construct is any phenomenon "invented" or "constructed" by participants in a particular culture or society. Can you think of an example?. The Other.

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“The Other” as Social Construct

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  1. “The Other” as Social Construct ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How is “the other” portrayed in American Literature?

  2. Social Construct • A social construct is any phenomenon "invented" or "constructed" by participants in a particular culture or society. • Can you think of an example?

  3. The Other When social, ethical, cultural, or literary critics use the term "The Other" they are thinking about the social and/or psychological ways in which one group excludes or marginalizes another group. By declaring someone "Other," persons tend to stress what makes them dissimilar from or opposite of another, and this carries over into the way they represent others, especially through stereotypical images. http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~ulrich/rww03/othering.htm

  4. Philosophers of “The Other” Jacques Lacan (1901-1981) Extended Hegel’s ideas to the context of colonization: the colonized subject gains a sense of his or her identity as somehow dependent, even internalizing the stereotypes placed upon him by the colonizer. GWF Hegel (1770-1831) Explained “the other” through the parable of the master-slave dialectic: "Each consciousness pursues the death of the other.”

  5. World Lit. • Remember the books we read last year? Where can you see this concept at work? • Which author(s) turned the concept on its head?

  6. Historical Applications Othering is imperative to national identities, where practices of admittance and segregation can form and sustain boundaries and national character. It often involves the demonization and dehumanization of groups, which further justifies attempts to civilize and exploit these 'inferior' others.

  7. “Axis of Evil” “See, we love - we love freedom. That's what they didn't understand. They hate things; we love things. They act out of hatred; we don't seek revenge, we seek justice out of love…States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.” George W. BushReferring to Iran and Iraq and North Korea, in State of the Union Address, January 2002

  8. Can You Think of “Other” Examples?

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