Plus nous croyons en la supériorité morale de l’homme sur les autres animaux, plus nous sommes susceptibles de déshumaniser certains groupes humains.
Plusieurs critiquent l’extension des droits fondamentaux aux animaux affirmant qu’on devrait s’occuper des humains avant de se préoccuper des autres animaux. Pourtant, des recherches montrent que plus on établit une distinction radicale entre les humains et les animaux, plus on est porté à déshumaniser des groupes humains.
Voici un extrait de Kymlicka and Donaldson qui expriment bien cette idée:
« The evidence shows that the more people sharply distinguish between humans and animals, the more likely they are to dehumanize human outgroups, such as immigrants. Belief in human superiority over animals is empirically correlated with, and causally connected to, belief in the superiority of some human groups over others. correlated with, and causally connected to, belief in the superiority of some human groups over others. When participants in psychological studies are given arguments about human superiority over animals, the outcome is greater prejudice against human outgroups. By contrast, those who recognize that animals possess valued traits and emotions are also more likely to accord equality to human outgroups. Reducing the status divide between humans and animals helps to reduce prejudice and to strengthen belief in equality amongst human groups. » (Kymlicka and Donaldson, Zoopolis. A Political Theory of Animal Rights, pp. 265-266).
Pour les études des Hodson et Costello :
(2010) Exploring the roots of dehumanization: The role of animal–human similarity in promoting immigrant humanization.
(copie accessible ici)
(2012) Explaining dehumanization among children: The interspecies model of prejudice
(copie disponible ici)
Mark Bekoff en a également discuté dans Psychology Today : http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201206/dehumanization-and-animal-human-similarity
Extraits :
“Beliefs that animals and humans are relatively similar are associated with greater immigrant humanization, which in turn predicted more favorable immigrant attitudes”
“Emphasizing animals as similar to humans (versus humans as similar to animals, or the human—animal divide) resulted in greater immigrant humanization (even among highly prejudiced people).”
“Recognizing that heightened immigrant dehumanization and prejudice follow from an exaggerated human–animal divide, it now becomes imperative to determine when and how beliefs about human superiority or animal inferiority develop. Children are socialized to endorse perceptions of human superiority over other animals through parental influence, religious teachings, cultural traditions, and/or experiences with industries condoning the exploitation of non-human animals. These socialization practices presumably lead children to endorse the cultural “legitimacy” of dominating, victimizing, or ignoring the plight of non-human animals.”
http://gpi.sagepub.com/content/13/1/3.abstract?rss=1
Cela soutient la thèse générale que les mécanismes psychologiques et socio-culturels qui servent à justifier (à rationaliser) les violences et les discriminations ne sont pas essentiellement différents dans le cas des autres humains ou des autres animaux.
Voir également Comment nous nions la vie mentale des animaux pour mieux les manger.
