I CAME HERE AS A STRANGER, AS A STRANGER I WILL GO - FROM ALIENATION TO ANTI-FOREIGN SENTIMENT IN THE YOUNGER GENERATION

After a historical review of the discussion of the concept of strangen ess and alienation since the beginning of the 19th century, the questi on of the background of the current discussion of ''the alien'' arises . The assumption is that the experience of strangeness and self-aliena tion took a qualitative and quantitative leap at the point in technolo gical development when the dialectic between human and machine was res olved in favor of the machine's domination, and when the ''mega-machin e'' made the end of the human species conceivable and probable. Findin gs from empirical research on children and youth support this assumpti on. The causes are traced why the younger generation in particular is affected by the structural violence of strangeness that permeates all areas of life. Its inflating influence on the development of the ego a nd self is depicted. In accordance with the assumption, hostility towa rd and hatred of foreigners are to be grasped as symptoms of a loss of identity, caused by experiences of alienation deeper and more compreh ensive than current societal triggers reveal.