Ethics Unit 5: Structural Oppression & Catholic Social Teaching

Agent Identity

A part of your identity that has power within a social structure.

Target Identity

A part of yourself that lacks dominance in a social structure.

Privilege

The ability to remain unaware because a social structure works well for who you are.

Institutional Oppression

Oppression that occurs at the levels of formalized laws or policies.

Interpersonal Oppression

Oppression that happens during interactions between ordinary people.

Individual Oppression

Oppression that occurs in the private thoughts of individuals.

The Circle of Social Justice

This process starts with awareness of an issue, the moves to analysis (which asking why), before acting.

Charity

Helpful actions that focus on short-term concrete solutions for particular people.

Justice (as different from Charity)

Helpful actions that seek to create long-term permanent solutions that transform the root of a problem.

Social Structures

The complex pattern of relationships that shape any society.

Structure of Sin

Harmful social structures that are built by individuals over time and that perpetuate injustice.

Social Doctrine

This is the body of teaching by the Church on economic and social matters that includes moral judgement and demands for action in favor of those being harmed.

Social Encyclical

A teaching letter from the Pope to the members of the Church on topics of social justice, human rights, and peace.

Rerum Novarum

The first social encyclical written in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII to address the rights of workers during the Industrial Revolution.

Laudato Si'

Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical on the environment which affirms our responsibility to care for a world that connects us to God

Experience, Scripture, Tradition, Reason(Natural Law)

Four sources that guide a pope when they write a social encyclical.

The Life and Dignity of the Human Person

This is the foundation of any just society and Catholic Social Teaching principle.

Rights & Responsibilities

A theme of Catholic Social Teaching that deals with our claim to basic needs like food and shelter.

Call to Family, Community, and Participation

A theme of Catholic Social Teaching that emphasizes our social nature and the importance of belonging in society.

The Dignity of Work and The Rights of Workers

A theme of Catholic Social Teaching that supports the rights of workers to organize into unions.

The Option for the Poor

A theme of Catholic Social Teaching that uses those at the bottom of the economy to measure the success of a society.