Otherness

Otherness is the condition or quality of being different or “other,” particularly if the differences in question are strange, bizarre, or exotic. Otherness has emerged as a widely discussed mental construct of pragmatic significance in the humanities and social sciences over the last 3 decades. Dialogues on rethinking sociality, for example, have seriously considered otherness and related concepts such as intersubjectivity and recognition in the contexts of social relations, social problems, and social organizations. Definitions of otherness and its functions, utility, and sociopolitical impact have been explored rather widely; robust and quickly growing bodies of literature on otherness are situated in philosophy, psychoanalysis, Jewish and African American studies, and psychology, as well as in sociology and anthropology where the concept is more established.

Functionalist, phenomelogical, conflict, and inter-actionist theoretical orientations have been employed in symmetry with an equally diverse range of quantitative and qualitative research strategies in the study of the topic. Otherness-oriented research foci include the cultural context of identity, social stratification, and moral order development and maintenance. Specific examples include ethnic reflexivity in cultural definition (i.e., the role of other as a reference and contrast point relative to sameness), cultural system artifacts (e.g., beliefs, art, morals, law, behaviors, and customs), race and ethnic relations, and a plethora of social justice issues (e.g., racial profiling, same-sex marriage, homelessness, polygamy, and especially immigration policy).

Whereas the bulk of the extant literature on otherness originates from European philosophy that focuses on abstract topics such as the dimensions of otherness and the search for a phenomenology of othering, the concept has been particularly consequential to the development of (a) cultural studies in both anthropology and sociology; (b) the evolution of subjective philosophies of science and qualitative inquiry, generally, and ethnography, specifically; and (c) deviance and social control (i.e., criminology and criminal justice).

Key works in cultural and social anthropology, such as Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922/2002) by Bronislaw Malinowski and Coming of Age in Samoa: Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation (1928/2001) by Margaret Mead, shaped and solidified the scientific utility of other in contextualizing group awareness and sense of belonging. [Page 588]These confessional and reflexive ethnographies translated cultural differences by contrasting the cultural indicators of otherness (e.g., language, gender, familial and social relations, religious beliefs, and designations of taboo and deviance) with ideations of sameness—a benchmark set by the researchers' own cultural backgrounds and realities.

Urban sociology and the Chicago School also embraced an ethnographic fieldwork orientation to otherness. From constructivist and relativist paradigms, the highly stratified nature of American society and its innate disenfranchised segment served as a ready venue for descriptive portrayals of the other in famous works such as Gary Alan Fine's Shared Fantasy: Role Playing Games as Social Worlds.

Although early ethnographies explored and detailed the historical and regionally specific context of cultural identity, otherness has been instrumental in contemporary works on ethnic communities as transforming cultural products, as opposed to the natural and primordial characterizations described in early anthropological portrayals of, often tribal, underdeveloped, and remote, societies. The age of political correctness has ushered in a collective consciousness, a part of which involves placing a premium on respect for diversity. Accordingly, many works have appeared that center on affirmation of group identity in advocacy of maintaining otherness. The processes of shaping, masking, and unmasking stigmatized identity, via a constructionist or deconstructionist approach and using case study or participant observation symmetries, have resulted in various topics being explored; topics range from Japan-residing Koreans to the devaluement of farmers in the United States.

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