Antilocution describes a form of

prejudice Prejudice can be an affect (psychology), affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived In-group and out-group, social group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classifi ...

in which negative verbal remarks against a

person A person (: people or persons, depending on context) is a being who has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations suc ...

, group, or community, are made but not addressed directly to the subject.

History

American psychologist

Gordon Allport Gordon William Allport (November 11, 1897 – October 9, 1967) was an American psychologist. Allport was one of the first psychologists to focus on the study of the personality, and is often referred to as one of the founding figures of personali ...

coined this term in his 1954 book, ''The Nature of Prejudice''. Antilocution is the first point on Allport's Scale, which can be used to measure the degree of bias or prejudice in a

society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

. Allport's stages of prejudice are antilocution, avoidance,

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

, physical attack, and

extermination Extermination or exterminate may refer to: * Pest control, elimination of insects or vermin * Extermination (crime), the killing of human on a large scale * Genocide, at least one of five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in par ...

. Antilocution is a compound noun consisting of the word 'locution' and prefix 'anti' which expresses locution's antithesis.

Description

Allport considered antilocution to be the least aggressive form of prejudice. It can nevertheless be destructive and life-changing for its object/target. Those who employ antilocution may neither know what they are doing nor consider themselves committing a prejudicial act. A subject may feel the need to join in if the antilocution is employed by the

majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...

. This can either bind the subject to the group and/or spread biased

information Information is an Abstraction, abstract concept that refers to something which has the power Communication, to inform. At the most fundamental level, it pertains to the Interpretation (philosophy), interpretation (perhaps Interpretation (log ...

that engenders discriminatory behaviors toward the object. Antilocution is similar to 'talking behind someone's back,' though antilocution may result in an in-group ostracizing an out-group on a

bias Bias is a disproportionate weight ''in favor of'' or ''against'' an idea or thing, usually in a way that is inaccurate, closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair. Biases can be innate or learned. People may develop biases for or against an individ ...

ed basis. "Antilocution" is used less often than "

hate speech Hate speech is a term with varied meaning and has no single, consistent definition. It is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as ...

", which has a similar but more aggressive meaning and which places no regard on the fact that the out-group is unaware of the

Causes, employment, and danger

Individuals may engage in prejudicial conversation when they feel threatened. Such conversations may be based on misperceptions and by the subject. For example, a group may apply stereotypes to a new, unknown member. Such individuals may deny that their behavior is prejudicial, and is instead a matter of expressing

opinions An opinion is a judgement, Point of view (philosophy), viewpoint, or Proposition, statement that is not conclusive, as opposed to facts, which are truth, true statements. Definition A given opinion may deal with subjectivity, subjective matters ...

. Antilocution can lead to widespread discrimination toward the object as the subject(s) do not feel that they are transgressing. Facts are needed to dispel such stereotypes and create a positive disposition toward the object.

References

{{reflist Prejudices Human behavior Racism Harassment and bullying Social concepts

History

Description

Causes, employment, and danger

See also

References