Dehumanization

Dehumanization is the distortion of the natural human vocation to become more fully human, as described by Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed. It occurs when systems, institutions, or ideologies suppress human potential, autonomy, and consciousness, reducing individuals to passive, controlled, and mechanized beings rather than active, empowered participants in their own growth and the transformation of society.

Freire argues that all people are called to become more fully human, to achieve Full Realization of full Human Potential, but oppressive systems—such as industrial schooling, capitalism, and authoritarian control structures—interrupt this process, replacing creativity, self-determination, and critical consciousness with obedience, passivity, and dependency.

Dehumanization is not merely an individual experience—it is a systemic condition created by those in power to maintain control and prevent liberation. Freire emphasizes that both the oppressor and the oppressed are caught in this system, though the oppressor benefits from maintaining dehumanization, while the oppressed must struggle to reclaim their humanity through critical consciousness and transformative action.

Freire's Terms

Paulo Freire > Banking Model, Conscientização, Culture of Silence, Dehumanization, Dialogic Method, Praxis, Problem-Posing Education

Related LP Terms

Dehumanization > Connection, Healing, Human Potential, Pathfinder Educational Framework, Toxic Socialization

Non-LP Related Terms

Dehumanization > Conscientização, Culture of Silence, Dialogic Method, Generative Themes, Love, Empathy, and Hope, Praxis, Problem-Posing Education

Quotes

📢 "Dehumanization, although a concrete historical fact, is not a given destiny but the result of an unjust order that engenders violence in the oppressors, which in turn dehumanizes the oppressed." – Paulo Freire

📢 “The great humanistic and historical task of the oppressed: to liberate themselves and their oppressors as well.” – Paulo Freire

📢 "Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom." – Paulo Freire