Them
The most dangerous four-letter word. The stranger, the competitor, the enemy. To us, it is we. (see also Us)
How We Say It
them
Where It Comes From
Old English him, dative plural of he. The form 'them' came into English from Old Norse in the 12th and 13th centuries, gradually replacing the native form. The political and social use of 'them' to mark an out-group is universal across languages.
How It's Been Used
The construction of in-group and out-group identity — 'us versus them' — is studied across social psychology and political theory. Henri Tajfel's minimal group paradigm experiments in the 1970s showed how arbitrary criteria can produce group hostility. 'Othering' has become a critical-theory term for the discursive production of an alien other. Singular 'they' is now standard as a non-gendered pronoun.