Aporophobia: Rejection Of The Poor

20 years ago Adela Cortina coined the term aporophobia to refer to the rejection of the poor. But it was very recently, last December, when the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language (RAE) added it to its dictionary. Shortly after, the Fundéu BBVA Foundation chose it Word of the Year 2017. But despite its maximum relevance, it is still very difficult to turn this rejection around and transform it into cooperation.

Make it clear, first, that this concept does not refer to a type of mental disorder. On many occasions, the term phobia is used to designate social and psychological phenomena that tend to marginalize the most vulnerable people. And this is the case of aporophobia, a neologism specifically created to define a feeling of revulsion towards a person who is considered different in some measure.

Adela Cortina: the discoverer of the term

She is Professor of Ethics and Political Philosophy at the University of Valencia and has been the first woman to become a member of the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences since its foundation in 1857. After more than 20 years researching, she has achieved one of the largest Achievements: have your work recognized internationally.

Adela Cortina realized the need for a word to designate that hatred towards the most deprived people: she  considers that today everything important has a name.

Even hurricanes and explosive cyclogenesis! Therefore, he became aware that this reality had to be baptized. To do this, he resorted to the Greek term aporos , which in this language defines one who has no resources or outlets. And joining it to the concept of aversion he composed the one of “aporophobia”.

Extension to other areas

As Cortina assures, “when the foreigner is rich and when the person of another ethnic group is rich, we receive them with all the enthusiasm”. Therefore, xenophobia could also be classified as aporophobic ; since it tends to exclusively target poor people.

In other words, the rejection of immigrants is usually called racism, when, in the words of this philosopher, our aversion is not directed at “their condition as foreigners”, but at their non-existent purchasing power.

Therefore, it ensures that the problem is not one of race, ethnicity or foreigners. Do black footballers who are billionaires bother us? And the gypsies who succeed in show business? Or the Arab sheiks who have extra-luxury hotels built? And the South African actresses who reach the highest levels of fame?

We are rejected by refugees, immigrants, the destitute … But what are the causes that lead us to develop this deep-rooted hatred?

Ideological bias

The idea of ​​meritocracy contributes to increasing the marginalization of these people. In other words, assuming that being poor is a voluntary matter and linked to personal attitude. But this in many cases is false.

In fact, the main predictors of poverty cannot be controlled by the individual : level of family income, place of birth, parental health, and even IQ. Or are any of them voluntarily chosen by the excluded person?

Cognitive dissonance

If you have had the opportunity to travel to a foreign country mired in poverty, you may have experienced this feeling. It is the fact of finding yourself in front of children who do not have any basic need covered and ask you for help only with their eyes. They are those who by receiving a gift pen become the happiest people in the world.

When you see this panorama, it is possible that you manifest a strong discomfort as a result of your impotence. That is, you do not know how to help change the extreme poverty of these people. This is a type of cognitive dissonance in which a psychological tension is produced as a result of two ideas that contradict each other: to help without producing substantial change in their lives.

In this sense, let’s talk about prejudices. Why do people still think that all immigrants steal? As in all nationalities, there are people with lower morals than others. Therefore, to generalize in this regard is to contribute to promoting a stereotype based on aporophobia and criminalization. If their only intention was to plunder others, perhaps they would prefer to stay in their native country, surrounded by their family, rather than go to the other side of the world. What do you think?

Fight aporophobia

We already know the strong contagious power that social rejection has. We act en masse and, if there is someone close to us who shows hatred towards the poor, it is very likely that something will stick to us. Therefore, to be able to face it and prevent it from continuing to spread, the personal commitment of each one is essential. And, of course, the institutional one.

In this sense, Adela Cortina has taken a very important step in terms of defending the interests of the most disadvantaged and their visualization. Thus, it is necessary to disseminate a non-essentialist vision of poverty, which allows it to be linked to the life circumstances of each person and not so much by answers to questions as where they come from or what they have.