Otherisation

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The action of perceiving and treating individuals or groups as fundamentally different or alienated from oneself and one's community occurs through this social and cultural phenomenon
2. This social process defines individuals or groups as outsiders by contrasting them with one's own identity, leading to perceived differences and stereotypes
3. The act of distinguishing and categorizing individuals or groups as fundamentally distinct or inferior to oneself contributes to social division and identity formation

Etymology: "Otherisation" is built from the ordinary English word "other" and the suffix "-ization," which turns a verb or adjective into a noun for the process or act of doing something. The base "other" comes from Old English "ōþer," meaning the second of two, a sense it still carries in phrases like "one or the other." The suffix "-ize" traces back to Greek "-izein," a verb ending used to form verbs meaning "to make into" or "to treat in the manner of." English adopted it heavily for coinages, and "-ization" is its noun counterpart. Put together, "otherization" literally names the process of making someone or something into an "other," a person or group treated as outside the norm. The British spelling "otherisation" is the alternative form of the same word, differing only in using "-is-" where American English writes "-iz-." The meaning has moved from a neutral sense of setting something apart to the modern social sense of casting people as fundamentally different and lesser.