The Diligio Formulation of SRV

SRV is a scientific description of how people are devalued, assigned low-value roles, and treated poorly, often to the extent of risk to their own lives.

This poor treatment is given to any group which is given low value by powerful forces in society.

These groups may include people with the following differences from the valued norm:

People with Mental Difficulties (including those states labelled as Mental Illness and Learning Disability)

People with Physical Capability Differences (including those labelled as having difficulties with mobility, body control and bodily integrity.)

People with Physical Appearance Differences (including those labelled as facially disfigured, unusual appearance, overweight or underweight.)

People Perceived to be of a Different Ethnic or Racial Group .

People of Different Gender or Sexuality.

People who are labelled criminals (whether legally or morally so or not.)

People who do not accept Societal Norms for whatever reason.

People who use Drugs (including those who use Alcohol and Nicotine as well as those who use chemicals more usually called drugs in the society.)

People who Exhibit Lack of Control according to the expectations of that Society.

THE ABOVE CATEGORIES ARE NOT EXHAUSTIVE; INDEED, MANKIND’S ABILITY TO CREATE NEW DEVIANT GROUPS IS APPARENTLY UNLIMITED!

So, we may summarise: people who differ in any way from societal expectations or desirability, where this difference is negatively valued, will be badly treated by that society.

Powerful Groups in Society Will:

Define People as Different

Treat People with the same or similar differences as a group.

If the difference is seen as negative, it will treat such groups badly.

It will assign Negative Deviancy Roles to such groups and people.

(These deviancy roles include: Not Human (Animal-like, Plant-like, Less than Human, Not yet Human, Used to be Human, Alien), Waste, Trivium, (Clown-like, humorously insignificant), Threat, Burden of Charity, Death Related Roles.)

SRV suggests that role messages are largely conveyed by image, whether of the individual or of their surroundings (including accompanying people.)

So a person’s potential roles may be limited or assigned by: the company they keep, the surroundings in which they live, or the activities they engage in.

SRV suggests that Role Occupancy is dependent on apparent competency in that role.

So the availability of roles may be limited or assigned by the person’s ability (or , more importantly, the lack of ability) to perform the necessary role requirements for the effective performance of that role.

People cast into such negative roles will be denied the good things in life:

Family or small intimate group

An intermediate but still small-scale group

A transcendental belief system

A transcendental belief system

Absence of imminent threats of extreme privation

To be viewed as a human and treated with respect

To be treated justly

Work, especially meaningful work

Opportunities and expectations to discover and develop skills, abilities, gifts and talents

To be dealt with honestly

To be treated as an individual

Access to the ‘sites of everyday life’

Being able to contribute, and having ones contributions recognised as valuable

Further, such groups will be damaged in the following ways:

Societal Recognition of Difference

Which may be Societally defined as an 'Impairment'

and which may be based on

Physical Difference, Psychological Difference, Social/Behavioural Difference

which may lead to further:

Functional Difference/Impairment

may together lead to:

1 Relegation to low (‘deviant’) status

2 Rejection, perhaps by family, neighbours, community, society, service

workers

3 Cast into one or more historical deviancy roles

4 Symbolical stigmatising, ‘marking’, ‘deviancy-imaging’, ‘branding’.

5 Being multiply jeopardised, scape-goated.

6 Distantiation: usually via segregation and also congregation.

7 Loss of Control, perhaps even autonomy and freedom.

8 Discontinuity with the physical environment and objects.

9 Social and relationship discontinuity, even abandonment.

10 Absence or loss of natural/freely-given relationships, and substitution of

artificial/’boughten’ ones.

11 Deindividualisation.

12 Involuntary Material Poverty, material/financial exploitation.

13 Impoverishment of experience, especially that of the typical, valued world.

14 Exclusion from knowledge of, and participation in, higher order value systems

(e.g. religion) that give meaning and direction to life, and provide community.

15 Having one’s life ‘wasted’

16 Being the object of Brutalisation, ‘killing thoughts’, and deathmaking.

(Hinge wounds in Bold)