Dehumanisation
Describes a group of people in ways that reduce their humanity.
Specimen
The streets are overrun with people who have no respect for the laws or values of this country.
Fabricated passage — teaching example designed for clarity.
dehumanisation — 'overrun' describes people as infestation, not individuals
Dissection
The streets are overrun with people who have no respect for the laws or values of this country.
- 'overrun' is a pest/infestation metaphor
- group defined by its values deficit
- individuals erased by category
Field notes
- Family
- Emotional manipulation
- Habitat
- immigration coverage, crime reporting, political commentary
- Frequency
- found in 7% of analyzed articles
- Confused with
- Loaded language , Us vs them
In the wild
"These communities have been flooded with people who have no intention of integrating."
Political opinion, national broadsheet, February 2026
"A swarm of economic migrants has descended on border towns, overwhelming local services."
News coverage, regional daily, March 2026
Why it works
Language that reduces people to categories makes it easier to dismiss or fear them. Infestation metaphors bypass the human recognition response.
Counter-move
Replace the group noun with individual people. Does the sentence hold?
See it flagged in real articles while you read.
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