Exclusion of ethnic groups from the realm of humanity: Prejudice against the Gypsies in Britain and in Romania

Abstract

Prejudice against ethnic minorities is investigated not only as the establishment of difference between social groups on valued dimensions but also as the denial of similarities that would prevent the inclusion of both ingroups and outgroups in the superordinate category of human-beings. The present study sought to explore the two concepts that are advanced to describe the phenomenon of dehumanisation of outgroups: their ontologisation and their infra-humanisation in relation to the Gypsy minority. British and Romanian participants were asked to rate their national ingroup and the Gypsies using characteristics judged typically human and typically animal fo­llowing the ontologisation and infrahumani­sa­tion literature. The results indicated that the ontologisation of the Gypsies occurs in both national samples whereas their infra-huma­nisation is only verified for the British participants. The implications of these fin­dings are discussed from the perspectives of the infrahumanisation and ontologisation