Materials from section meetings

Dehumanization (social category ≠ law of nature )

Social categories are shared references that are negotiated and change over time. Nazi dehumanization is based on the denial of negotiation and the belief that social categories are associated to laws of nature. Nazis essentialize social categories. Conceptually, this shows a weakness in Nazi ideology as human beings in reality can never be explained fully by social categories and the use of social categories is to some extent arbitrary.

Non-exhaustive list of social categories: 

-       Adult
-       Child
-       Senior
-       Woman
-       Man
-       Parent
-       Spinster
-       Nationality
-       Hometown
-       Gay
-       Rich
-       Middle class
-       Poor
-       Ethnic minority
-       Member of a tribe
-       Member of a famous family
-       Catholic
-       Jewish
-       Protestant
-       Atheist
-       Convicted criminal
-       Person with Romanian as first language
-       Person with Italian as first language
-       Person with German as first language
-       Immigrant
-       Gypsy
-       Minority group
-       Migrant worker
-       African American
-       White
-       Latino
-       Asian
-       Businessman
-       Politician
-       Scholar
-       Priest
-       Medical Doctor