The Objectification Spectrum: Understanding and Transcending Our Diminishment and Dehumanization of Others

What lies at the heart of humanity's capacity for evil? Any tenable answer to this age-old question must include an explanation of our penchant for objectifying and dehumanizing our fellow human beings. The Objectification Spectrum: Understanding and Transcending Our Diminishment and
Dehumanization of Others draws upon timeless wisdom to propose a new model of objectification. Rather than offering a narrow definition of the term, the author explores objectification as a spectrum of misapprehension running from its mildest form, casual indifference, to its most extreme
manifestation, dehumanization.

Using vivid examples to clearly demarcate three primary levels of objectification, the author engages in a thoughtful exploration of various dispositional and situational factors contributing to this uniquely human phenomenon. These include narcissism, the ego, death denial, toxic situations, and
our perceived boundaries of self, among others. Rector then gives us reason to hope by orienting his model of objectification into a broader continuum of human capability--one that includes a countervailing enlightenment spectrum. Gleaning insights from classic philosophy, the world's five most
prominent religious traditions, and current social science research, he examines the best antidotes humankind has devised thus far to move us from casual concern for our fellow human beings toward interconnectedness and, ultimately, unity consciousness. Broad in scope and deeply penetrating, The
Objectification Spectrum advances the conversation about the nature of human evil into personally relevant, potentially transformative territory.


Author: John M. Rector
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 07/29/2014
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.10w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780199355419

About the Author

John M. Rector, Ph.D., is a Counseling Psychologist at the counceling center at Brigham Young University in Southeast Idaho, where he provides psychotherapy to university students, writes, and teaches on the psychology of religion. Dr. Rector is the past chairperson for the American Psychological
Association Annual Convention for Division 36 (Psychology of Religion). He is currently serving as assistant editor for the journal Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy. He and his wife have three sons.

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