Othering
The term othering describes the distancing and demarcation from other groups to confirm one’s own perceived “normality”. Othering describes a constant act of categorization, which aims differentiate between “us” and “them”. This process often constructs fundamental differences that are then evaluated in a hierarchical manner, both explicitly negative (e.g., backward, intolerant, uneducated) and seemingly positive in an exoticizing way (e.g., primal, deeply connected to nature, sexually and physically attractive). This mechanism serves to maintain social, cultural, and political power relations.