EŞİTSİZLİK, TOPLUMSAL MESAFE VE NEFRET SÖYLEMİ
INEQUALITY, SOCIAL DISTANCE AND HATE SPEECH

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this study is to discuss, with reference to the role of social distance, the relationship between hate speech and the notion of inequality inherent in identities constructed through binary oppositions. The main assumption of this study is as follows: identities formed through the distinction between “us” and “the other” exclude the idea of equality and contain a claim of superiority over the other. Thus, they establish both physical and social distance from the other. However, when this distance begins to close as a result of various developments, hate speech emerges. Based on analysis of the perspectives of G. Herbert Mead and Georg Simmel, the study first focuses on the social construction of identity and the place of distance in social life. Then, it turns to philosophical, religious, and scientific views that have been advanced to explain and legitimize inequality. Subsequently, the concepts of hatred, hate crime, and hate speech are defined. Through an examination of the nature of physical and social distance and its relationship to inequality, this study finally goes into a discussion on the emergence of hate speech as distance decreases.

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