DAVID SMITH, Less Than Human

I met David Smith at the first conference I attended on neuroscience and peacebuilding that focused on dehumanization. At a conference with a lot of young and focused neuroscientists, Smith impressed me by the breadth of his knowledge and interests.

Somehow, the fact that he had written a book on dehumanization somehow escaped me until I stumbled on it a couple of years later. While it extends far beyond the fields of study I’m most familiar with, I was struck by the way he combines evidence from evolution, the “wiring” of our brains, and the impact of social forces that have little to do with neuroscience–at least at first glance.

At a time when the resurgence of the far right in the United States and Europe is in the news, it behooves us to pay attention to a number of issues that Smith raises.

The first is dehumanization itself or our tendency to treat some people as–hence his title–less than human. He makes the case that dehumanization is not a new phenomenon whose roots only go back to the Nazis or even to slavery. Rather, he explores the ways we have treated our adversaries as “the other” throughout history and may even have inherited tendencies to do so from our evolutionary ancestors.

I found his assertions that  dehumanization and related phenomena are deeply rooted in our physical and social evolution compelling and worrisome.

If he is right, we all have some inherent tendency to demean members of “out groups.” If he is right (and here I am way beyond my personal expertise), our evolution over the last few thousand years may even have ingrained some sense that other races are different from “us” in our minds even though genetic research has all but conclusively shown that there are next to no genetic differences among us at least as far as such notions as race or nationality are concerned.

Dehumanization also occurs in degrees. We don’t have to think of our adversaries is literally not human to fall prey to the stereotypical thinking that we peacebuilders have been trying to overcome as long as our field has existed.

While Smith does not set out to provide peacebuilders with tools they could use to overcome dehumanization and related phenomena, he does make it clear that people choose to treat people as less than human. For instance, he cites the work of Herbert Kelman who argued that we can overcome those prejudices in part by intentionally meeting with, learning from, and cooperating with “the other.”

If you are looking for a book that provides you with those tools, you will probably be disappointed by Less Than Human. However, if you want to find out why we think that way and the degree to which our brains are flexible or “plastic,” there is no better place to start.