SchulLV Logo
Lerninhalte in Englisch
Abi-Aufgaben LF
Lektürehilfen
Basiswissen
Inhaltsverzeichnis

Reading Comprehension

Task II

John A. Powell: "Us vs. Them: the Sinister Techniques of "Othering" - and How to Avoid Them"

1
We are in the midst of a rapidly changing world. More than 300 million
2
people are currently living outside their homelands. Ethno-nationalism is
3
on the rise - from the Rohingya people forced out of Myanmar in what
4
many are calling the world’s latest genocide, to neo-Nazis marching
5
through the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, in an action President Trump
6
pointedly refused to condemn.
7
Humans can only process a limited amount of change in a short period of
8
time without experiencing anxiety. It’s a natural human reaction - but how
9
we respond to that anxiety is social. When societies experience big and
10
rapid change, a frequent response is for people to narrowly define who
11
qualifies as a full member of society - a process I call “Othering”. An
12
alternative response is seeing the change in demographics as positive,
13
and regarding the apparent other as enhancing our life and who we are.
14
This is what I refer to as “belonging and bridging”. Othering is not about
15
liking or disliking someone. It is based on the conscious or unconscious
16
assumption that a certain identified group poses a threat to the favoured
17
group. It is largely driven by politicians and the media, as opposed to
18
personal contact. Overwhelmingly, people don’t “know” those that they are
19
Othering.
20
So while today’s global anxiety has been precipitated by globalisation,
21
technology and a changing economy, demographics play a crucial role in
22
the process of Othering. The attributes of who gets defined as Other differ
23
from place to place, and can be based upon race, religion, nationality or
24
language. It is not these attributes themselves that are the problem, of
25
course, but how they are made salient, and how they are manipulated. I
26
am therefore particularly concerned with how Othering shows up in today’s
27
power structures: how it is used to divide and dehumanise groups, and
28
capture and reshape government and institutions. For society’s leaders
29
and culture play an oversized role in helping us make sense of change -
30
and so greatly affect our responses to anxiety.
31
In the United States, politicians used to engage in what scholar Ian
32
Haney-Lopez calls “dog whistles” - they could make references to Others
33
but only in a coded way; never saying “those Mexicans” or “those
34
Muslims”, for example. President Trump, however, has opened a space
35
where people are emboldened to be more explicit. We now have not only
36
our nation’s leadership but many of our information networks amplifying
37
these explicit calls to exclude and dehumanise. The rhetoric and language
38
coming from Trump has begun to both define and normalise Othering. This
39
is a threat to all the things we value. When Mexicans can be called “rapists
40
and drug dealers” in direct contradiction to the facts, it becomes a much
41
easier step to call for their deportation, and for a literal wall to divide us.
42
The language being used by many national leaders not only activates
43
people's anxiety and fear around a perceived Other, it creates new
44
processes of exclusion and dehumanisation.
45
While it is common to focus only on economic changes to explain the rise
46
of right-wing nationalists and Othering, the loss of economic power is not
47
the only thing stirring anxiety around the globe. [...] Conservative elites
48
know how to strategically create and use fear of a perceived Other, by
49
organising and manufacturing fear. When Nixon began using the term “law
50
and order”, his popularity was cemented among a certain base because he
51
was appealing to a specific kind of conservative white fear: not primarily
52
about jobs, but rather the changing social order. This was not precipitated
53
by a specific economic downturn, yet the outcome of Nixon’s strategy was
54
the securing of an economy rigged for the rich. People don’t just figure out
55
on their own that collectively they need to be afraid of another group.
56
Leadership plays a critical role. Often people who have been living with
57
one another for years are made to feel suddenly that those differences
58
have become threatening.
59
The recent rhetoric around people who are undocumented in the US, many
60
of whom have lived here for their whole lives, has created a culture of fear
61
for millions, has demonised children, and has created suspicion and anger
62
in communities where none had existed before. [...] The stories we tell, and
63
live, are not about facts but our values, fears and hopes - all of which, to a
64
certain degree, are malleable. Our narratives don’t just reflect them, they
65
also shape them. While anxiety about change is natural, Othering is not.
66
Othering is socially and culturally constructed.
67
So how do we respond to our collective anxiety today? Either we “bridge”,
68
reaching across to other groups and towards our inherent, shared
69
humanity and connection, while recognising that we have differences; or
70
we “break”, pulling away from other groups and making it easier to tell and
71
believe false stories of “us vs them”, then supporting practices that
72
dehumanise the “them”. Part of the solution to Othering must come from
73
the stories we tell. As the world undergoes profound shifts, how do we
74
build true societies or belonging? [...] If we are to combat the rising tide of
75
extremism across the globe, we must actively create bridges across
76
differences, and resist strategic exploitation of our collective anxiety. For
77
when we bridge, we not only open up to others, we also open up to change
78
in ourselves - and actively participate in co-creating a society to which we
79
can all belong. The opposite of Othering is not “saming”, it is belonging.
80
And belonging does not insist that we are all the same. It means we
81
recognise and celebrate our differences, in a society where “we the
82
people” includes all the people.
Aus: John A. Powell: "Us vs. them: the sinister techniques of "Othering" - and how to avoid them", The Guardian, Nov. 8, 2017, slightly adapted, www.theguardian.com, accessed Jun. 11, 2021
Instructions:
  • Tick the correct answer / statement or statements as indicated.
  • Provide a quotation from the text to support each correct answer: the line number(s) plus the first three and the last three words of the quotation.
  • If the quotation is six words or shorter, write it down in full.
0
Example: Tick the correct answer (true / false)
true false
Discrimination against certain groups takes on different shapes.
lines: 2 - 4 Ethno-nationalism is on ... streets of Charlottesville
1
Tick the correct answer.
true false
Whether people feel uneasy about social changes depends on their cultural preconceptions.
line(s):
(1P)
2
Tick the TWO correct statements.
Common reactions to a transformation within society are to
exclude certain people.
limit the influx of immigrations.
grant newcomers citizenships.
strive for mixed neighborhoods.
accept the benefit of such a development.

  • quotation for the 1st correct statement:
    line(s):
  • quotation for the 2nd correct statement:
    line(s):
(2P)
3
Tick the correct statement.
Othering takes place when people
speak badly about strangers.
fail to inform themselves through the press.
think they might lose their privileged position.
are confronted with newcomers in their neighborhoods.
line(s):
(1P)
4
Tick the correct answer.
true false
Categorizations are the reason why discrimination takes place.
line(s):
(1P)
5
Tick the correct statement.
Othering is a strategy for descision-makers to
stabilize the political system.
attract a specific group in society.
exert their influence on the public.
distance themselves from their political rivals.
line(s):
(1P)
6
Tick the correct statement.
In the past, politicians were less
aware of the power of the media.
openly abusive towards minorities.
racist towards non-Americans in society.
successful in shaping people's opinions.
line(s):
(1P)
7
Tick the correct statement.
President Nixon's initial course of action was to
call on whites to follow his policies.
support people facing unemployment.
boost the economy for the benefit of all Americans.
address white anxiety concerning the makeup of society.
line(s):
(1P)
8
Tick the correct statement.
The recent public use of language has led to
the defense of vilified children.
the resurgence of old tensions within society.
animosity between ethnic minorities and the rest of society.
communities moving closer together due to a common fear.
line(s):
(1P)
9
Tick the correct statement.
Reaching out to others leads to
shared values for everyone.
individuals and collective change.
alliances against fundamentalism.
people being less prone to exploitation.
line(s):
(1P)
(content 10 VP)

Weiter lernen mit SchulLV-PLUS!

monatlich kündbarSchulLV-PLUS-Vorteile im ÜberblickDu hast bereits einen Account?