Social death

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Social death is a term used to describe the condition of people not accepted as fully human by wider society. Used by sociologists like Zygmunt Bauman and historians of the holocaust to describe the part played governmental and social segregation in that process. Examples of social death are:

• Racial exclusion, persecution, slavery, and apartheid.
• Governments can exclude individuals or groups from society. Examples: Protestant minority groups in early modern Europe; ostracism in Athens; criminals; prostitutes, outlaws
• Change in the identity of an individual. This was a major theme during the Renaissance.

It could be said that the degeneration theory and theories similar to this theory are the most extreme examples of social death. The idea of degeneration was/is popular in both right-wing and left-wing politics. Both left-wing and right-wing politics use(d) the word decadence to describe the groups they want to discard. For the left-wing, the decadent were those who tried to stop the world revolution. For the right-wing decadence stands for those which is supposed to be destroying society. It includes the left-wing (liberalism), but also alien cultures. The use of violence is not only perceived as accepted, but even as necessary to counter the threat of the decadents.

[edit] Other definitions of social death

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[edit] See also

• Cherem
• Excommunication
• Exile
• Expulsion
• Ostracism
• Shunning
• Slavery

[edit] References

• Claudia Card, Genocide and Social Death, Hypatia, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Winter 2003)
• Family and Psycho-Social Dimensions of Death and Dying in African Americans, Key Topics on End-of-Life Care for African Americans, Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life and the Initiative to Improve Palliative Care for African Americans
• Brian Garavaglia, Avoiding the Tendency to Medicalize the Grieving Process: Reconciliation Rather Than Resolution, The New Social Worker Online, Summer 2006
• John Edwin Mason, Social Death and Resurrection: Slavery and Emancipation in South Africa, ISBN 0-8139-2178-3
• Jaap W. Ouwerkerk, et al., Avoiding the Social Death Penalty: Threat of Ostracism and Cooperation in Social Dilemmas, The 7th Annual Sydney Symposium of Social Psychology: The Social Outcast: Ostracism, Social Exclusion, Rejection, & Bullying, Mar. 16-18, 2004 (Alternate link)
• Orlando Patterson, Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study, ISBN 0-674-81082-1
• Matelita Ragogo, Social Death Part of AIDS Tragedy, Says HIV-Positive Advocate, Agence France Presse, Sept. 9, 2002
• Deborah C. Reidy, Stigma is Social Death: Mental Health Consumers/Survivors Talk About Stigma In Their Lives, Alaska Mental Health Consumer Web
• Stuart Waldman, Surviving a Fate Worse than Death: The Plight of the Homebound Elderly, Loss, Grief & Care: A Journal of Professional Practice Vol. 6, No. 4 (May 14, 1993), ISSN 8756-4610
• Trish Williams, Death, Dying and Grieving, Losing Tom: A Documentary Film