To dehumanize someone is to strip them of qualities that make them recognizable as fully human, so cruelty no longer feels like cruelty

Evidence

The Psychology of Dehumanization and Moral Disengagement (Prof. RJ Starr)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Accusations of extreme wrongdoing can dehumanize scapegoats. — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 82; Dehumanizers make targets appear deserving of abuse and never entitled to humane social treatment. — Dehumanization of Whistleblowers and Scapegoats common Narcissistic Abuse tactics; Dehumanization causes perpetrators to perceive victims as nonhuman and therefore not entitled to moral obligation — Dehumanization increases instrumental violence, but not moral violence (+16 more)

Related

• Dehumanization redefines targets as less human, using terms like ‘animals’ and ‘vermin’ to get people to accept or engage in atrocities. (similarity 0.85)
• Dehumanization entails exclusion from the moral category of human, leaving persons vulnerable to harm with no moral consideration given to their experiences. (similarity 0.85)
• Dehumanization causes perpetrators to perceive victims as nonhuman and therefore not entitled to moral obligation (similarity 0.84)
• Dehumanizers make targets appear deserving of abuse and never entitled to humane social treatment. (similarity 0.84)
• Successful dehumanizing creates moral exclusion, placing targeted groups outside the scope of moral protection (similarity 0.83)
• Dehumanizing portrayals can lead victims to be seen as less capable of suffering and less deserving of humane treatment. (similarity 0.81)
• Dehumanization operates both as motive and as enacted physical performance (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Public nakedness was deliberately used to degrade enslaved women #exemplifies (0.70) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 114
• Literary objectification dehumanizes Arabs even before they are killed #exemplifies (0.70)