Hierarchies of Being Human: Intergroup Dehumanization and Its Implication in Present-Day South Africa

The 20th century saw the dismantling of several oppressive regimes and an international turn toward greater social justice. Yet structural inequality and intergroup animosity persist in many postcolonial and postslavery contexts, not least because the dehumanization inherent to those regimes remain entrenched socially. Here we examined whether the racialized hierarchy established under the inhumane South African apartheid system is still manifest in patterns of dehumanization today, and how this impacts intergroup relations and behaviors related to structural reform. Specifically, we investigated blatant dehumanization as the explicit attribution of reduced human uniqueness, factors contributing to its tenacity, and its intergroup outcomes in a national sample of the three largest racialized groups: Black African, Coloured, and White. We found that, despite significant changes in power dynamics postapartheid, dehumanization ratings mirrored the apartheid-inspired hierarchy, with White people rated "more human" than Coloured people, and Coloured people rated "more human" than Black African people across participants. Levels of dehumanization were ameliorated by positive intergroup contact and reinforced by feeling dehumanized (meta-dehumanization) and hierarchy-legitimizing beliefs in White and Coloured participants. Finally, White participants' dehumanization of Black African people predicted, beyond prejudice, several outcomes (social distance, collective action, and petition support) that would sustain the unequal status quo. Our results suggest that intergroup dynamics are influenced by the positions people occupied on the apartheid racial hierarchy, and that curbing dehumanization should be prioritized to advance structural reform in South Africa.