Oppression chapter 9

Structural violence experienced by indigenous people in canada

Indgienous people, experience the highest levels of social inequality, and then suffer the most from structural violence

Forms of oppression

It is impossible to give one essential or universal definition of oppression may not experience all five they do experience at least one of them and usually more than one

There must be a dominant group who oppresses and

a subordinate group who is oppressed

myth that perpetuate oppression Stereotyping

all members of a group are the same

Oppression in the law

antiunion or bathroom bill

Oppression is not a static concept

but a dynamic, multi-dimensional and relational one

Oppression at the structural level refers to the means

by which oppression is institutionalized in society

myth that perpetuate oppression Class

most people believe they belong to the middle class, which lives in harmony with a higher (superior) class. This belief mandates and then sanctions a dominant and a subordinate class

Oppression is a complex and

mutl-faced social phenomenon

myth that perpetuate oppression myth of equal opportunity (meritocracy)

not taking advantages of what there is to be offered

To recognize someone as oppressed

one has to see that individual as belonging to a group of a certain sort

Internalization

oppression also resides in the human psyche where oppressive beliefs are internalized

oppression is Hierarchical

oppression denotes a hierarchical relationship in which members of privileged groups have unearned advantages at the expense of disadvantaged groups

oppression is Restrictiveness:

oppression represents structural and material limitations that significantly shape individual opportunities and one's sense of possibility

Not all groups in society are oppressed nor

or all oppressed groups equally oppressed

Oppressed groups are susceptible to violence

or its threat in society

Distributing or redistributing rights and opportunities is not the same as distributing

or redistributing income because rights and opportunities are not possessions.

myth that perpetuate oppression Blaming the victim

people are the architects of their own misfortune and oppression

Multiculturalism

politics of cultural pluralism

ollective resistance

politics of difference

Assimilation

politics of integration

oppression is Complex:

power and privilege are relative, because individuals hold multiple, complex, and intersectional social group memberships that give relative privilege and disadvantaged in different ways, depending on different contexts

interpersonal level

(homicide and domestic violence)

Oppression is not accidental

(nor is it intentional)

Structural oppression may be overt and visible

(not recognzing lgbtq marriage)

oppression at the structural level leads to violence at the intrapersonal level

(suicide, self mutliation)

True or False

As long as separation, competition and hierarchy among subordinate groups exist, there is no potential for solidarity and collective action on the part of oppressed groups

Assimilation

By imagining a society in which class, race, ethnicity, gender etc have no special social significance, one can see more clearly how these categories unnecessarily limit possibilities Equality and justice promised for all. Group related differentiation and discrimination would be suspect Deal the identies, cultures and values of oppressed groups are to be surrenderd for the promise of opportunity of improved life chances

covert oppression at the structural level

Covert structural oppression occurs when social institutions, laws, policies, practices disproprotionately allocate goods, services and opportunities with a positive social value (good health care, decent housing, a good job) to dominant group members and disproportionately allocate goods, services and limited opportunities with negative social value. (inadequate housing, incarceration, poor health care) to members of the subordinate groups

The origins of modern-day oppression and the politics of identity

Dichotomy

true or false ignoring social process and practices true

Distributional view of justice assumes a social atomist or individualist perspective of people in that they are externally related to the goods they possess and only related to one another in terms of comparison of the amounts of goods they possess. Institutional contexts are ignored

The politics of difference

Emphasizes the importance of community for developing self-identity, solidarity and resistance to domination Seeks equality among all socially and culturally differentiated groups where mutual respect and affirmation of one another in their differences would occur. Group differences are considered positive and desirable

Structural violence in six areas of everyday living

Housing, rettail, labour markets, education, health care and the criminal justice system

Accommodation and compliance through a process of inferiorization is a response of oppressed people to their oppression

It's my fault because im not taking advantage of society's resources Blaming themselves Horizontal violence often occurs among oppressed people- an indigenous person may strike out at another indigenous person for petty reasons Self deprecation, hear you are ungood so you believe it

true or false there is a myth that

Oppressed people are potential enemies who must be watched. Those who are oppressed are lazy, and did not put effort in or take the courage to take risks

another myth argues that

Oppressors believe that those who are oppressed are a dangerous class that must be controlled for the good of society.

Subordinate groups are at greater risk of being separated from their children than are members of the dominant group.

People living in poverty, indigeouns persons, single mothers

All oppressed groups have been assigned at least one negative characteristic about their sexuality

Sexuality out of control, perverted, immoral and unworthy of any positive regard or treatment

Levels of oppression

Social problems are political or structural by nature and they cause personal difficulties for many people

Powerlessness

consists of inhibitions in the development of one's capacities, a lack of decision-making power in one's working life, and exposure to disrespectful treatment because of the status one occupies. Affects non-professional workers but racialized individuals and women to a lesser extent. Social division of the labour force

Distributive justice

focuses on distribution and redistribution issues with respect to how rights, opportunities, and material resources are allocated in society

Power over

greater material resources, physical strength weapons, information, decision-making and control of the media

myth that perpetuate oppression Competition and hierarchy

human beings are competitive by nature and aspire to be ahead/above others

Violence

includes not only physical attack but harassment, ridicule or intimation which serves the purpose of stigmatizing group members. The oppression of violence is the constant fear that it may occur solely based on group identity

Cultural sensitivity

increase worker and agency awareness of and sensitivity to different cultural norms and reduce not eliminate institutional racism

All social groups

incur stereotypes

Oppression occurs because

it benefits the dominant group

myth that perpetuate oppression Objective information:

it is possible for one group (mainly, white bourgeois males) to observe humanity objectively, thus becoming the authoritative knowers

Marginzalition

primarily affects racialized individuals, some old and young, single mothers and their children, people with physical and mental disabilities, unskilled workers, indgieoous people these people are confined to the margins of society because the labour market cannot or will not accommodate them. Most dangerous because it excludes whole groups from useful and meaningful participation in society. Black youth being shot and killed. Restructuring of productive activity to address a right of participation within the wage system and establishing more socially productive activity outside the wage system

Multiculturalism

recognition and acceptance of cultural pluralism, but it does nothing to change the situation of there being one dominant culture with all others subordinate to it

Exploitation

refers to those social processes whereby the dominant group is able to accumulate and maintain status, power and assets from the energy and labour expended by subordinate groups. Experienced by working class persons, women and racialized individuals. #metoo. There must be a reorganization of institutions and practices of decision making, alteration of the division of labor and institutional, structural and cultural change. Coal mine workers

oppression is described as

relational

institutional level

remature death because of social inequalities

oppression is Pervasiveness

social inequality is woven throughout social institutions, as well as being embedded within individual consciousness

Modern day oppression is

structural

Oppression carries out certain social functions for the dominant group by ensuring

that society reproduces itself and maintains the same dominant- subordinate group relationships

myth that perpetuate oppression Supremacy

the dominant educational system, with its emphasis on western civilization, leads to a belief in the supermacy of a white, western, male culture

myth that perpetuate oppression Might makes right

the majority rules even if it means tyranny of the minority

Equating scope of social justice only with distribution is misleading in two ways:

the social processes and practices that caused the maldistribution in the first placed are ignored and the limits of the logic of extending the notion of distribution to such non-material goods and resources as rights and opportunities are not recognized

myth that perpetuate oppression Scarcity

there is not enough to go around, which deflects attention away from the fact that a small minority owns most of the world's resources

Violence is structural when it is

tolerated, accepted to be found unsurprising by the dominant group or when perpetrators receive light or no punishment.there must be a change in cultural images, stereotypes, and day to day reproduction of dominance and aversion

true or false Advocates of the distributive theory of justice claim that any issue of justice, including such non-material things as rights and opportunities, may be treated as 'goods" or some aggregate of things to be possessed and or distributed and redistributed

true

true or false Everyone suffers frustrations, restrictions and hurt

true

true or false If an individual is oppressed, it is by virtue of being a member of a group or category of people that is systematically reduced, molded and immobilized

true

true or false Most oppression at the structural level today is covert or hidden

true

true or false Most oppression today is systematic and unintentional. Built into our social institutions and carried out in our day to day activities

true

true or false Most structural social work practice is carried out with, or on behalf of oppressed people

true

true or false Not everything that frustrates or limits or hurts a person is oppressive. So in order to distinguish between what oppression is and is not we must understand the social context of a particular restriction, limit or injury

true

true or false Oppression may be the source of social problems, it is a privilege that is the underlying cause of social problems

true

true or false Oppression occurs among groups of people in their everyday relations with each other

true

true or false Rejection through a process of assimilation, multiculturalism, or collective resistance through a politics of difference: three emancipatory sets of politics attempt to overcome oppression

true

true or false Social policies that address problems of discrimaintion such as affirmative action, employment, equity, social housing, parole and probation, group homes, social assistance are the very policies that are most popular with the dominant group and are under threat of being discontinued

true

true or false Structural oppression is often referred to as a circle of oppression

true

true or false Structural violence leads to violence at other levels

true

true or false There are severe limitations of the distributional view of social justice

true

true or false Those in the dominant mainstream of our society are less likely to be oppressed and more likely to be among the oppressors

true

true or false To understand the meaning of oppression we must go beyond viewing oppression as the conscious and intentional acts of one group against another but instead recognize that oppression is found in areas of education, production, distribution of goods and services, etc

true

true or false We cannot eliminate this structural oppression by getting rid of the rulers or making new laws because oppression is systematically reproduced

true

true or false What determines oppression is when they happen to a person not because of individual talent, merit or failure but because of their membership in a particular group or category of people (black people, women, those living in poverty and gay and esbian persons)

true

true or false Women are oppressed by men as women

true

true or false only people oppress people

true

true or false oppression is group based

true

Cultural imperialism

when a dominant group universalizes its experiences and culture and uses them as the norm through the process of ethnocentrism. Dominant group projects its experience and culture as representative of all humanity. To fight this oppressed groups must take over the name assert a positive definition

Intensity of oppression is not constant but

will vary over time

some people are oppressed

yet oppress others