Investigating the "in-between": dehumanisation among marginalised groups in South Africa

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dc.contributor.advisorFourie, Melikeen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorCilliers, Melanieen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorUkabhai, Prajnaen_ZA
dc.contributor.otherStellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Psychology.en_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2024-03-01T09:30:59Zen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-08T12:24:15Zen_ZA
dc.date.available2024-03-01T09:30:59Zen_ZA
dc.date.available2024-05-08T12:24:15Zen_ZA
dc.date.issued2024-03en_ZA
dc.descriptionThesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2024.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractENGLISH ABSTRACT: In South Africa, intergroup tensions have not only been restricted to antipathy between White people and those groups oppressed under apartheid (Black African, Coloured and Indian people), but also between those groups that have shared experiences of marginalisation under apartheid. The construction of the apartheid racial hierarchy meant that some marginalised groups held an intermediary status, which afforded them some relative advantage over Black African people. This precarious positioning of Coloured and Indian people, as the in-between, has contributed to tensions with Black African people, both historically and today. Recent events, such as the riots in KwaZulu-Natal in July of 2021, underscore the strained relations between historically marginalised groups and suggest that dehumanising perceptions – that is to view others as less than fully human – may be important to consider. The present research thus explored dehumanising attitudes and how it functions for those groups occupying intermediate social status on the racialised apartheid hierarchy. More specifically, I examined how dehumanisation is experienced by people identifying as Coloured and Indian, whom they dehumanise in turn, and what factors might potentially mediate these associations. I addressed these questions through a surveybased quantitative, cross-sectional study, in which dehumanisation and metadehumanisation (the perception of being dehumanised) data were collected from 432 participants (233 Coloured people, Mage = 32.23 years; 179 Indian people, Mage = 33.39 years). Mediator variables included the affective cost, threat to social identity and the need for self-preservation in the face of dehumanising experiences. Results indicated that both Coloured and Indian participants continue to feel more dehumanised by White people than by Black African people. I also found evidence of responsive dehumanisation where both groups appeared to reactively dehumanise White and https://scholar.sun.ac.za iii Black African people when feeling dehumanised by these groups, respectively. Importantly, the dehumanisation of Black African people was also displaced: feeling dehumanised by the majority group (White people) predicted the dehumanisation of Black African people, suggesting a trickle-down effect. In Indian participants, identity threat and self-preservation mediated the association between feeling dehumanised and reactively dehumanising others in turn. Overall, these patterns of dehumanisation point to the continued influence of the apartheid social hierarchy on people’s perceptions of other social groups and suggest that the conflicted social dynamics experienced and negotiated by the in-between may contribute to rifts in solidarity with Black African people. Such tensions are unlikely to be resolved fully until the stark structural inequality, which maintains hierarchical thinking and aids the perpetuation of dehumanisation, is addressed.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractAFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In Suid-Afrika was intergroepspanninge nie net beperk tot antipatie tussen witmense en daardie groepe wat onder apartheid onderdruk is nie (swart Afrikane, Kleurlinge en Indiër-mense), maar ook tussen daardie groepe wat gedeelde ervarings van marginalisering onder apartheid het. Die konstruksie van die apartheidsrassehiërargie het beteken dat bepaalde gemarginaliseerde groepe ’n bemiddelaarstatus verkry het, wat hulle ’n taamlike voordeel bo swart Afrikane gegee het. Hierdie onsekere posisionering van bruinmense en Indiërmense as die tussenpersone het bygedra tot spanninge met swart Afrikane, histories sowel as vandag. Onlangse gebeure, soos die onluste in KwaZulu-Natal in Julie 2021, beklemtoon die gespanne verhoudings tussen histories gemarginaliseerde groepe en dui daarop dat persepsies oor ontmensliking – dit wil sê om ander as minder as volledig menslik te beskou – belangrik is om oor te besin. Die bestaande navorsing stel dus ondersoek in na ingesteldhede oor ontmensliking en hoe dit funksioneer vir daardie groepe wat sosiale tussenstatus as bemiddelaars in die gerassialiseerde apartheidshiërargie geniet. Meer spesifiek het ek ondersoek ingestel na hoe ontmensliking ervaar word deur mense wat identifiseer as bruinmense en Indiër-mense, wie hulle op húl beurt ontmenslik, en watter faktore moontlik bemiddelend kan wees wat hierdie assosiasies betref. Ek het hierdie vrae aangepak deur ’n opname gebaseerde kwantitatiewe deursnitstudie waarin data oor ontmensliking en meta-ontmensliking (die persepsie van ontmensliking) onder 432 deelnemers (233 bruinmense, M-ouderdom = 32.23 jaar; 179 Indiër-mense, M-ouderdom = 33.39 jaar) versamel is. Die bemiddelaarsveranderlikes was onder meer affektiewe gevolge, bedreiging vir sosiale identiteit, en die behoefte aan selfbehoud in die aangesig van ontmenslikende ervarings. Die resultate toon dat sowel die bruin deelnemers as die Indiër-deelnemers nog steeds meer ontmenslik voel deur wit mense as deur swart https://scholar.sun.ac.za v Afrikane. Ek het ook bewyse gevind van responsiewe ontmensliking waar al twee groepe blykbaar wit mense en swart Afrikane reaktief ontmenslik wanneer hulle meen dat hulle op húl beurt deur hierdie groepe ontmenslik word. Wat belangrik is, is dat die ontmensliking van swart Afrikane ook verplaas is: die gevoel van ontmensliking deur die meerderheidsgroep (witmense) kon verwag word in die ontmensliking van swart Afrikane, wat op ’n deursyferingseffek neerkom. By Indiër-deelnemers was identiteitsbedreiging en selfbehoud bemiddelend ten opsigte van die assosiasie tussen die gevoel van ontmensliking en die reaktiewe ontmensliking van ander op hul beurt. Oor die algemeen dui hierdie ontmenslikingspatrone op die voortgesette invloed van die sosiale hiërargie van apartheid op mense se persepsies van ander sosiale groepe en dui daarop dat die botsende sosiale dinamika wat deur die tussenpersone ervaar en onderhandel is, tot breuke in die solidariteit met swart Afrikane kan bydra. Sodanige spanning sal waarskynlik nie in geheel opgelos word totdat die strakke strukturele ongelykheid, wat hiërargiese denke laat voortbestaan en tot die voortsetting van ontmensliking bydra, aangespreek word nie.af_ZA
dc.description.versionMastersen_ZA
dc.embargo.terms2024-09-04en_ZA
dc.format.extentxiii, 196 pagesen_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttps://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/130836en_ZA
dc.language.isoen_ZAen_ZA
dc.publisherStellenbosch : Stellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.rights.holderStellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshMarginality, Social -- South Africaen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshIntergroup relations -- South Africaen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshIdentity (Psychology) -- Social aspects -- South Africaen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshDominance (Psychology)en_ZA
dc.subject.lcshUCTDen_ZA
dc.titleInvestigating the "in-between": dehumanisation among marginalised groups in South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeThesisen_ZA
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