Social death

Social death is the condition of people not accepted as fully human by wider society. It refers to when someone is treated as if they are dead or non-existent.^[1] It is used by sociologists such as Orlando Patterson and Zygmunt Bauman, and historians of slavery and the Holocaust to describe the part played by governmental and social segregation in that process.^[2]^[3] Social death is defined by "three aspects: a loss of social identity, a loss of social connectedness and losses associated with disintegration of the body."^[4]

Examples of social death are:

Racial and gender exclusion, persecution, slavery, and apartheid.^[5]^[6]^[7]
Governments can exclude individuals or groups from society. Examples: Protestant minority groups in early modern Europe; ostracism in Ancient Athens; Dalits in India; criminals; prostitutes, outlaws^[8]^[9]
Institutionalization and segregation of those labeled with a mental illness.
Change in the identity of an individual. This was a major theme during the Renaissance.

^ Borgstrom, Erica (20 October 2016). "Social Death". QJM: An International Journal of Medicine. 110 (1): 5–7. doi:10.1093/qjmed/hcw183. PMID 27770051.
^ Claudia Card, Genocide and Social Death, Hypatia, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Winter 2003)
^ BRODBER, ERNA (December 2012). "History and Social Death". Caribbean Quarterly. 58 (4): 111–115. doi:10.1080/00086495.2012.11672459. S2CID 159886790.
^ Králová, Jana (3 July 2015). "What is social death?". Contemporary Social Science. 10 (3): 235–248. doi:10.1080/21582041.2015.1114407.
^ 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
^ John Edwin Mason, Social Death and Resurrection: Slavery and Emancipation in South Africa, ISBN 0-8139-2178-3
^ Patterson 2000.
^ 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)
^ Matelita Ragogo, Social Death Part of AIDS Tragedy, Says HIV-Positive Advocate, Agence France Presse, Sept. 9, 2002

[1] Borgstrom, Erica (20 October 2016). "Social Death". QJM: An International Journal of Medicine. 110 (1): 5–7. doi:10.1093/qjmed/hcw183. PMID 27770051.

[2] Claudia Card, Genocide and Social Death, Hypatia, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Winter 2003)

[3] BRODBER, ERNA (December 2012). "History and Social Death". Caribbean Quarterly. 58 (4): 111–115. doi:10.1080/00086495.2012.11672459. S2CID 159886790.

[4] Králová, Jana (3 July 2015). "What is social death?". Contemporary Social Science. 10 (3): 235–248. doi:10.1080/21582041.2015.1114407.

[5] 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

[6] John Edwin Mason, Social Death and Resurrection: Slavery and Emancipation in South Africa, ISBN 0-8139-2178-3

[FOOTNOTEPatterson2000-7] Patterson 2000.

[8] 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)

[9] Matelita Ragogo, Social Death Part of AIDS Tragedy, Says HIV-Positive Advocate, Agence France Presse, Sept. 9, 2002

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