Oppression

five faces of oppression

1. Exploitation
2. Marginalization
3. Powerlessness
4. Cultural Imperialism
5. Violence

Exploitation

The systematic transfer of resources (land, wealth, labor value) from one group to
another.
• Exploitation occurs when the labor of one social group benefits another (I.e.
women benefit men or through menial labor), which produces unequal
distribution in the allocation of labor and reveals an unfair structural relation
between social groups.

marginalization

The prevention or limitation of full participation in society through exclusion (the
job market, health care system, public benefits programs, community activities).
• The marginalized are people that the system of labor cannot or will not use; it is the
most dangerous form of oppression, according to Young.
• This produces people who experience material deprivation, which can be addressed
by redistributive social policy, but does not speak to the extent of the harm.
• Ex. Welfare
• Dependency in our society in any ways usually asks dependents to give away their
basic rights to privacy, respect, and individual choice.

powerlessness

The deprivation of the ability to make decisions about one’s living or working
conditions.
• The powerless are those who lack authority, power, status, and autonomy; who
must take orders and never give them.
• For example, working professionals have privileges that working nonprofessionals
don’t have.
• The division of labor between mental and manual work replicates itself in the
middle class and working class distinctions.

cultural imperialism

The valuing and enforcement of the dominant group’s culture, norms, and
characteristics.
• The impact of cultural imperialism manifests in the way that individuals are
rendered invisible and at the same time reduced to stereotypes by dominant
conceptions of society and culture taken as universal and the norm.
• This produces the concept that there is a subordinate Other to the dominant where
dominant groups measure marginalized groups by their dominant norms.
• Stereotypes about marginalized groups also confine them to a nature, this nature is
usually something about themselves that they can’t change or deny.

violence

This includes physical, sexual, and emotional violence, and the threat of
violence, as well as policies and structures that condone violence.
• It is a social practice because it repeats itself and becomes legitimized because
it’s widely tolerated and acceptable.
• Systematic violence is irrational, but is rationalized by fear or hatred of
particular social groups.

concept of difference

Lorde begins this piece by noting that we often conceive of differences amongst
human beings in ‘simplistic opposition.’
• This ‘black and white’ approach to difference serves as a way to dehumanize
marginalized people in systematic, institutional, and impersonal ways.
• Lorde’s goal here is to articulate why we need to revise our conceptions of
difference between human beings; because our usual conceptions of difference are
separating and confusing us. It presents us from relating to one another equally.

The mythical norm

white, thin, male, young, heterosexual,
Christian, and financially secure.’ Typically, people who hold power in our
society reflect this norm.
• Since not everyone is reflected in this exact norm, usually everyone can
differentiate some aspect of their identity from it.The concept of the mythical norm describes a set of characteristics that are seen as the ideal or standard in society. It highlights how those who do not fit this norm often experience marginalization or invisibility.

refusing to recognixe differences

Lorde argues that refusing to recognize difference contributes to an unfortunate, view
of human difference as human deviance instead of human difference as useful or
celebratory. She considers the following examples to illustrate how difference
manifests:
• Creativity
• The generation gap
• Erasure of women’s and people of color’s contributions to literature in
academia
• The feminist moveme

iris Marion Young

justice and the politics of difference

oppression

the unjust or malicious exercise of power over groups of individuals
who belong to a certain gender, race/ethnicity/cultural background, economic class,
sexuality, ability, and/or religion that does not reflect the dominant group or accepted
social norms.
We have gone over two main ways of thinking about ethics as it is informed by social
and political philosophy through theories of justice and care ethics

form of injustices

oppression is ……..so, figuring out how to identify it and address it
is important for moral, social, and political reasons

iris marion young

“five faces of oppresion” from justice nd the politics of difference

oppression is structural

involves systematic constraints on some
groups of people; this doesn’t occur only as a result of individual choices or
policies. It is embedded within our existing social structures and institutions.
• Rather than viewing the system of oppression as being enforced by another group,
we should view it such that “for every oppressed group there is a group that is privileged in relation to that group.”

new usage of oppression

highlights the disadvantages and injustice
that people suffer due to the “everyday practices of a well-intentioned liberal
society.

social group

a collective of persons differentiated from at least one other group
by cultural forms, practices, or way of life.” Young argues that a social group shares
the following features:
• Members of a social group tend to share similar experiences or ways of life with
one another.
• Social groups are produced through the expression of social relations— the
existence of a group can’t exist without a relation to at least one other social
group.
• People identify with their social groups insofar as they encounter and interact
with others who are different from them despite living in the same society.

Aggregate model

classification of persons according to some attribute
(i.e. eye color, make of car someone drives, street someone lives on)

Association model

a formally organized institution (i.e. a club,
corporation, political party, church, college, or union)

contract model

individuals come together to set up associations,
establish rules, positions, and offices

concept of social group

Social groups are defined by a sense of identity rather than of shared
attributes.
• Social groups constitute individuals .
• Social groups are not homogenous.
• There is a sense in which we are thrown into the social groups that we’re part of.