Dehumanization of the Opposition in Political Campaigns

Erin C. Cassese

Social Science Quarterly, 2020, vol. 101, issue 1, 107-120

Abstract: Objective This article documents dehumanization in the 2016 presidential contest. Methods Using a mixed‐method approach, I analyze dehumanized portrayals of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in visual campaign rhetoric and on common survey measures of dehumanization. Results Images from the campaign discourse reflect animalistic and mechanistic dehumanization of the presidential candidates. The survey data reveal that voters dehumanize opposition candidates and party members in both subtle and blatant ways that also reflect this animalistic–mechanistic distinction. Conclusion The findings affirm the external validity of measurement strategies for dehumanization by showing the correspondence between campaign imagery and common survey‐based measurement tools. This work situates dehumanization as a psychological process relevant to the study of campaigns and elections.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12745

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:socsci:v:101:y:2020:i:1:p:107-120

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0038-4941

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science Quarterly is currently edited by Robert L. Lineberry

More articles in Social Science Quarterly from Southwestern Social Science Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().