Description
Do emerging technologies, such as drones, shape public support for the use of force abroad by dehumanizing targets? While scholars claim that the potential of emerging technologies to dehumanize targeted populations biases public support for the use of force abroad, this claim has yet to be empirically tested. We administer an image-based and text-based survey experiment among a representative sample of Americans to test if dehumanization shapes public support for the use of emerging technologies during war. Drawing from existing research, we consider both animalistic (rhetorical) and mechanistic (symbolic) mechanisms of dehumanization. We approximate consequential capabilities of modern war by varying technologies between semi-autonomous and fully-autonomous drones. This study provides the first experimental test for how dehumanization shapes public support for the use of emerging technologies during war, providing new insights for policy, research, and military modernization.
