A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Etheses - Queen Margaret ...

In Elias‟ view it is only when the individual stops regarding himself as the starting point of
his thought and comes to see himself as part of a much wider human network that his sense
of alienation from others will gradually fade.
The Ascription of Inferiority
Writing with John Scotson, Elias (1994) has argued that the ascription of inferiority by
powerful social groups towards less powerful social groups is a part of the operation of
power relationships within societies characterised by conflict. Elias and Scotson maintain
that two functions are achieved by this. The first of these is to do with the enhancement of
the esteem with which members of powerful groups regard themselves. The second involves
an internalisation of the typification as inferior and a rejection of self by members of less
powerful groups. The social slur cast through cultural representations within dominant
discourse of less powerful groups as inferior human beings is seen as entering the self-image
of members of less powerful groups, weakening and disarming them as social groups.
18
A person‟s we-image and we-ideal form as much part of a person‟s self-image and
self-ideal as the image or ideal of him- or herself as the unique person to which he or
she refers as “I”... a person‟s group identity form(s) as integral a part of his personal
identity as others which distinguish him from other members of his we-group (Elias
and Scotson, 1994:xliii).
When a person‟s „we-image‟ or group identity is identified by that person as carrying an
unhelpful stigma it is perhaps unsurprising that, as an individual, she should seek to
disassociate herself from the group and go to lengths to avoid contact with other members of
that group. Attempting to be identified with the powerful group is considered a rational
response.
The first point above is reinforced by Rosemarie Thomson‟s description of the normate as:
the constructed identity of those who, by way of bodily configurations and cultural
capital they assume, can step into a position of authority and wield the power it
grants them (Thomson, 1997:8).
Thomson suggests that the term normate describes the subject position of those whose sense
of identity as definitive human beings is given shape by the positioning of others identified
in terms of abnormality and deviance. As John Swain and I have argued, the social identities
of those who consider themselves normal (or able-bodied) are secured through processes
involving the marginalisation of others (disabled people) who are identified in terms of their