What Is Otherness, and Why Do We Need to Understand It?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The word “otherness” sounds like one more buzzword in current conversations about social justice, but do we truly know what it means?

What Is Otherness, and Why Do We Need to Understand It?
Photo: Istock/Oleksandr Pupko
Reading time 3 minutes
Reading Time: 3 minutes

The idea of otherness is crucial for sociology and the study of social identities. This concept exists thanks to the fact that we are social beings. We need the presence and cooperation of other people to survive. When a group is formed for this purpose, we have a society. The people within this unit are defined as “we,” and the “others” are ones who do not share this identity or belong to this group.

We need to discuss what identity means within a group to understand “otherness.” Social identity is not the same as personal identity. “Being” and expression are the hallmarks of personal identity. The point of social identity is recognition and identification, as explained by Salma Abdul-Magied, a faculty member of the Master’s program in Social Exclusion at the Abo Akademi University in Finland, in her thesis entitled Othering, Identity, and Recognition: The Social Exclusion of the Constructed “Other.” Despite this difference in definition, personal and social identity are highly correlated. “Personal identity is usually the reason why at a social level one person is identified as ‘the other'”, explains Abdul-Magied, referencing Professor Fred Dervin of Multicultural Education at the University of Helsinki in his text “Discourses of Othering.”

Otherness results from a philosophical, psychological, cognitive, and social process through which a group defines itself, creates an identity and differentiates itself from other groups. In this context, identity and otherness go hand in hand. By presenting himself as a man, a person describes himself as not a woman; by identifying as white, they place themselves in a different racial group than Asian or black people.

This exercise can negatively charge when differences (real or imagined) with other groups are stigmatized and become potential for discrimination among these groups. The dynamic is complicated when we talk about dominant groups and imbalances of resources, justice, and empathy among social majorities and minorities.

Otherness – exclusion, and inclusion

The similarities that build a “we” and the differences that constitute the “others” are central to the path of social codification, belonging, and the hierarchization of human groups. Usually, identities have a concept of exclusivity, as Zuleyka Zevallos argues, a Doctor in Sociology at the University of Technology in Swinburne, Australia. Philosophically speaking, it is a situation similar to joining a club or organization. Membership depends on filling out a set of designated criteria. These are created or built by the pertinent social groups. More than one group is necessary for this organization to make sense, so there can be a distinction. Some people do not belong to “our” group; otherwise, we would all belong, and no one does.

Otherness defines people based on how they differ from the group we see as us. This can be enriching if we see differences as complementary and a path to communication and learning. However, historically, it has been the starting point for systemic hierarchization, armed conflict, the oppression of social, religious, racial, sexual, gender and minorities. When we refer to someone as “the other” and not “one of us,” we establish a social, relational, psychological, and emotional distance that justifies crossing boundaries that would not be permitted within our group.

How do we introduce otherness in education?

Although it is helpful to measure the root of conflicts and social inequalities if you are a teacher, the above explanation is very complex for the children and young people in the classrooms. Rather than talking about otherness as a concept, it is easier to use concrete examples of how otherness impacts social dynamics. Previous articles have raised examples such as racism in the history of human thought and science and gender discrimination in the privileged explication and invisibility of minorities in scientific production.

In simpler terms, otherness starts from the difference. However, the key is to teach it to discuss diversity and inclusion. This optic for referring to otherness in the classroom can lead to the general understanding of differences as both positive and egalitarian. Have you heard about the concept of otherness? Do you think it is an important topic to discuss in teaching inclusion and social justice today? Do you try to address the topic in class? How do you do it in children’s classes in primary education? Let us know in the comments!

Translation by Daniel Wetta

Sofía García-Bullé

This article from Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education may be shared under the terms of the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0