cultural oppression essay

Cultural appropriation and oppression

Published: 17 December 2018
Volume 176 , pages 1003–1013, ( 2019 )

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Erich Hatala Matthes 1

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In this paper, I present an outline of the oppression account of cultural appropriation and argue that it offers the best explanation for the wrongfulness of the varied and complex cases of appropriation to which people often object. I then compare the oppression account with the intimacy account defended by C. Thi Nguyen and Matt Strohl. Though I believe that Nguyen and Strohl’s account offers important insight into an essential dimension of the cultural appropriation debate, I argue that justified objections to cultural appropriation must ultimately be grounded in considerations of oppression as opposed to group intimacy. I present three primary objections to the intimacy account. First, I suggest that in its effort to explain expressive appropriation claims (those that purportedly lack an independent ground), the intimacy account doubles down on the boundary problem. Second, I question whether group intimacy possess the kind of bare normativity that Nguyen and Strohl claim for it. Finally, I argue that these objections give us reason to accept the importance of group intimacy to the cultural appropriation debate, but question the source of its significance as identified by Nguyen and Strohl.

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Cultural appropriation and the intimacy of groups

Group ownership, group interests, and the ethics of cultural exchange, cultural appropriation: an husserlian account.

I follow Young ( 2011 ) in adopting a pluralistic understanding of oppression.

For a more detailed overview of these and other issues related to cultural appropriation, please see Matthes ( 2018 ).

Though it is worth noting that the idea of cultural property itself need not (and, I’ve argued, ought not) be understood in a depoliticized, universalist sense either (Matthes 2017 ).

For a broader discussion of gendered behavioral control, see Manne ( 2017 ).

For an interesting example of appropriation used as a tool to combat oppression, see Walsh and Lopes ( 2012 ). Even in this case, though, it’s not clear that the appropriation challenges the dominant group’s autonomy per se.

Compare with the idea that we should repatriate material culture to former colonies independently of their claim to any particular item, but rather, as an act of recognition and redress for the undermining of their autonomy (Ypi 2013 ; Matthes 2017 ).

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Acknowledgements

This paper has benefited from helpful discussions with Shen-yi Liao, Nick Riggle, Thi Nguyen, Matt Strohl, and audience members at the 2018 APA Pacific Division meeting in San Diego. Special thanks to Dominic McIver Lopes and Margaret Moore. Some parts of this paper were further developed in blog posts at Aesthetics for Birds : thanks to Alex King for feedback and providing an excellent venue for work in aesthetics. Thanks always to Jackie Hatala Matthes.

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Matthes, E.H. Cultural appropriation and oppression. Philos Stud 176 , 1003–1013 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-018-1224-2

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Published : 17 December 2018

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Article contents

Culture, prejudice, racism, and discrimination.

John Baldwin John Baldwin School of Communication, Illinois State University
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.164
Published online: 25 January 2017

Prejudice is a broad social phenomenon and area of research, complicated by the fact that intolerance exists in internal cognitions but is manifest in symbol usage (verbal, nonverbal, mediated), law and policy, and social and organizational practice. It is based on group identification (i.e., perceiving and treating a person or people in terms of outgroup membership); but that outgroup can range from the more commonly known outgroups based on race, sex/gender, nationality, or sexual orientation to more specific intolerances of others based on political party, fan status, or membership in some perceived group such as “blonde” or “athlete.” This article begins with the link of culture to prejudice, noting specific culture-based prejudices of ethnocentrism and xenophobia. It then explores the levels at which prejudice might be manifest, finally arriving at a specific focus of prejudice—racism; however, what applies to racism may also apply to other intolerances such as sexism, heterosexism, classism, or ageism.

The discussion and analysis of prejudice becomes complicated when we approach a specific topic like racism, though the tensions surrounding this phenomenon extend to other intolerances such as sexism or heterosexism. Complications include determining the influences that might lead to individual racism or an atmosphere of racism, but also include the very definition of what racism is: Is it an individual phenomenon, or does it refer to an intolerance that is supported by a dominant social structure? Because overt intolerance has become unpopular in many societies, researchers have explored how racism and sexism might be expressed in subtle terms; others investigate how racism intersects with other forms of oppression, including those based on sex/gender, sexual orientation, or colonialism; and still others consider how one might express intolerance “benevolently,” with good intentions though still based on problematic racist or sexist ideologies.

discrimination
intolerance
heterosexism
stereotypes
ethnocentrism

Introduction

One of the causes that gave rise to the postmodern revolution in France in 1968 was the failure of modern science and philosophy—liberalism, social science, reason, and so on—to remedy problems of war, poverty, and intolerance (Rosenau, 1992 ). As we look around today at the world in general, or even within specific nations, we continue to see a wide range of prejudice, from the 1994 genocide of Tutsis (and many Hutus) by Hutus in Rwanda to the mass killing of 70 people, mostly youths, at a Utøyan youth camp in Norway by Anders Behring Breivik. At this writing, a major refugee problem exists from people fleeing Middle Eastern countries where a strong ISIS influence is leading to the killing of gays, Christians, and Muslims from rival belief systems. In many European countries, hate groups and right-wing politicians are gaining ground. The Southern Poverty Law center tracks 1,600 hate groups within the United States (“Hate and Extremism,” n.d. ), classifying 784 that were active in 2014 (“Hate Map,” n.d. ), and the FBI reports nearly 6,000 hate crimes in the United States, with the greatest numbers due to race (48.5%), religion (17.4%), and sexual orientation (20.8%; FBI, 2014 ). These statistics reveal some interesting things about intolerance. For example, the “race”-based hate crimes include crimes based on anti-white sentiment as well as against people of color; and about 61% of hate crimes based on sexual orientation target gay males.

Both the international events and the statistics relevant to any specific nation prompt difficult questions about intolerance. In a white-dominant society, can or should we call anti-white crimes by people of color “racist”? If someone commits a hate crime based on sexual orientation, why are gay men more often the target than lesbians? Would hate crimes in other countries reflect the same axes of difference, or might hate crimes be based differently? German hate crimes might be based more on ethnicity (e.g., against Turkish immigrants, who by most racial classifications would be Caucasian). Why do people commit such acts at all?

One mistake we often make is thinking of prejudice and discrimination only in extreme terms such as genocide and hate crimes. In many countries and cultures, where overt expression of racism (and other intolerances) has become socially unacceptable, intolerances have gone “underground,” hidden in subtle forms. Further, intolerance can rely upon a wide variety of identity groups, including some that are (supposedly) biologically based, like racism, or based on other aspects, such as political party, fan status, or membership in some perceived group such as “blonde” or “athlete.” In sum, we must consider the relationship between different forms of intolerance, including but not limited to prejudice, racism, and discrimination; but these must always be understood within specific cultural contexts.

Culture and Intolerance

(re)defining culture.

As we look to the cultural influence on intolerance, we must first consider the definition of culture. The study of culture has deep roots in anthropological and linguistic research, especially as seen in the work of Franz Boaz and his students Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and Edward Sapir, as well as in the early work of Edward Tyler, itself based on earlier traditions of ethology (Darwin) and social evolution (Marx). This work influenced the work of anthropologist E. T. Hall (Rogers & Hart, 2002 ) and others who laid the groundwork for the study of intercultural communication (Leeds-Hurwitz, 1990 ). Scholars have debated whether culture is a shared mental framework of beliefs, norms for behavior (i.e., the expectations for behavior rather than the behaviors themselves), values, and worldview, or whether culture should also include actual behaviors, texts, and artifacts of a group. In 1952 , A. L. Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn synthesized over 150 definitions of culture into a single definition that focuses on “patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior,” along with “ideas and especially their attached values” (p. 181). These are influenced and created through symbolic behavior, action, and other aspects of the environment (history, geography). The definitional dimensions of culture described by Kroeber and Kluckhohn explained well many of the definitions of culture up until the 1980s. After that time, some scholars (especially in communication) began to treat culture more as a set of symbols and meanings. Others framed culture as a process of constructing social meanings and systems through communication. As people sing, speak, play, tell jokes, and conduct business, they are constantly (re)creating their culture—both relying upon it and changing it.

More pertinent to the study of intolerance is a new approach to culture that sees culture neither as “suitcase” of things (be those beliefs and values or texts and artifacts) passed down from one generation to the next nor as a neutral process of mutual symbolic creation through time, but as having vested power interests that seek to influence what is seen as accepted or normal within a culture. For example, Moon ( 2002 ) defines culture as a “contested zone”:

Thinking about culture as a contested zone helps us understand the struggles of cultural groups and the complexities of cultural life … If we define culture as a contested zone in which different groups struggle to define issues in their own interests, we must also recognize that not all groups have equal access to public forums to voice their concerns, perspectives, and the everyday realities of their lives” (pp. 15–16).

That is, every cultural manifestation, such as the framing of Australian culture as “individualistic” or saying that “Australian men have such-and-such characteristics,” highlights what one should not be within that culture and establishes bounds for group-based intolerance.

With this diversity of definitions in mind, one is not sure what to think culture is or should be. Baldwin, Faulkner, Hecht, and Lindsley ( 2006 ) present a series of essays on the definition of culture by authors from six different disciplines (e.g., multicultural education, anthropology, political science), as well as 313 definitions of culture from an even greater number of disciplines, which they analyze. While they are reluctant to settle on a single definition of culture, this definition embraces most trends:

The way of life of a group of people, including symbols, values, behaviors, artifacts, and other shared aspects, that continually evolves as people share messages and is often the result of a struggle between groups who share different perspectives, interests, and power relationships (Baldwin, Coleman, González, & Shenoy-Packer, 2014 , p. 55).

This definition of culture, like most definitions that take a symbolic, process, or critical approach, does not treat cultures as “nations,” but as people groups who share symbolic or speech codes, with multiple cultural groups—defined not by demographic constitutions such as race, sex, or age, but by shared communicative realities—sharing single geographic areas. It is in the creation and defending of cultures—from countries to local and virtual communities—that intolerance often becomes apparent.

The Role of Culture in Prejudice

Of various schools of thought about the nature and origins of intolerance, only one approach suggests that intolerance is biological or in some way inherited, and that is sociobiology, or evolutionary theory. This approach suggests that intolerance is based on such things as preservation of the purity of the gene pool of one’s group, an inherent fear of strangers, or an inherited need for group identity. But even evolutionary theorists cannot explain all intolerance based on a theory of inherited impulse. Meyer ( 1987 ) argues:

Xenophobia and ethnocentrism as extreme forms of this search for identity cannot be attributed to [human] biology … Their very existence is a result of [human’s] attempts towards understanding the world, and [their] strong affective need to delimit a cosmos of conspecifics with whom [they] can share interpretations of [their] socially construed world (p. 93).

Research on intolerance in 90 preindustrial societies suggests that, when there are clearly psychological causes for intergroup conflict, groups ultimately use communication to create who the enemy is and how one should demonstrate or show intolerance (Ross, 1991 ). In sum, there is a strong cultural component determining which intolerances are felt or expressed in a given place or time.

Culture, however one defines it, can affect tolerance. Culture might be a set of values and beliefs, such as the value of loyalty to one’s group, combined with a belief that people who belong to a particular group have particular characteristics, are unlikeable for some reason, or merit mistreatment and the application of a different set of standards than we apply to ourselves (Opotow, 1990 ). If culture is a process, then we might look at how a culture creates both identity and intolerance through the ongoing structures of language, including word choices (“babe,” “hunk,” “faggot”), conversational structure (interruptions, etc.), joke- and storytelling, and so on. For example, West and Zimmerman’s ( 1987 ) notion of “doing gender” (i.e., gender as an everyday accomplishment of language) has led to countless studies of gender construction in several nations, as well as a focus by others on how we also “do race” and other identities. The way that we construct our identities through communication is inherently linked to how we construct the identities of those in outgroups, as we shall see; but they are also linked to behavior within our group. Social constructionist approaches to culture thus often become critical in their focus on power relations. Critical approaches look at how cultures, through communication, architecture, law, literature, education, and so on create a sense of the “other”—and of the self—that constrains us and pits us against one another in group conflict.

“Culture”-Based Prejudices: Ethnocentrism, Xenophobia

The purpose of this article is primarily to look at racism and discrimination as forms of prejudice; however, these cannot be understood without a larger understanding of prejudice in general and other forms or types of prejudice. Allport ( 1979 ) defines prejudice as an antipathy one has or a tendency to avoid the other, based on the other person’s group. For Allport, prejudice is a cognitive or psychological phenomenon:

Prejudice is ultimately a problem of personality formation and development; no two cases of prejudice are precisely the same. No individual would mirror his [or her] group’s attitude unless he [or she] had a personal need, or personal habit, that leads him [or her] to do so (p. 41).

Based on the Greek word that means “fear of strangers,” xenophobia refers to “the fear or hatred of anything that is foreign or outside of one’s own group, nation, or culture” (Herbst, 1997 , p. 235). The idea is frequently applied to a mistrust or dislike (rather than merely fear) of outgroups or those perceived to be different, especially in national terms. While the Greek translation suggests the psychological component of fear, recent researchers have treated the concept in behavioral or message terms. Historical research on xenophobia links it to anti-Semitism and, more recently, to Islamophobia, though it does not have as clear a historical trajectory as ethnocentrism; many more recent studies look at South Africa as a model nation in attempting to strategically reduce xenophobia. Researchers use a variety of methods to look at xenophobia, depending on their research assumptions and background disciplines. Rhetorical media research, for example, analyzes how Czech newspapers code anti-Roma sentiment through subtle terms such as “inadaptable citizens” ( nepřízpůsobivý občan , Slavíčková & Zvagulis, 2014 , p. 159); and psychological survey research investigates how, among Southern California students, ethnocentrism is positively associated with both language prejudice and feelings of being threatened by immigrants (Ura, Preston, & Mearns, 2015 ).

Van Dijk ( 1993 ) notes how groups can use language such as hyperbole of differences to marginalize immigrants, often through appeals to so-called democratic values. He notes that in some countries, such as in Central Europe, where claims of racism are often forcefully resisted due to conceptual ties of the term to Hitler’s Holocaust, Ausländerfeindlicheit (fear of foreigners) takes its place, though this fear of foreigners is frequently aimed at Turks and other (often darker-skinned and religiously different) people who resist adoption of traditional Germanic culture.

Ethnocentrism

Some types of prejudice relate specifically to the larger and more traditional notion of culture (i.e., cultures as nations). Ethnocentrism gained prominence as an area of research following sociologist Robert Sumner’s 1906 definition of the term as gauging others in reference to one’s own culture ( 1975 ), though other sociologists soon began to distinguish between this notion of “centrality” and the idea of “superiority”—that one’s culture or group is superior to those of others. If one sees ethnocentrism strictly as a feeling of superiority, nationalism (or school spirit, or religious loyalty, etc.) might not in and of itself be ethnocentric if it focuses only on being loyal to or highlighting the benefits of one’s own group, without denigrating others, though some might argue that it is impossible to feel pride in one’s own group without, at some level, disdaining or thinking less of other groups. The possibility of an ethnocentric bias in research led many early anthropologists to suggest ethnography—spending extended time within a culture to see things from cultural members’ point of view—as a way to reduce ethnocentrism in research.

A consideration of ethnocentrism has implications for other forms of bias as well, as the factors that predict national cultural ethnocentrism—and solutions that address it—could apply equally to one’s perception of life within one’s own community. The Hmong-descended people of the Pacific Northwest in the United States will likely feel that their ways are superior to those of Moroccan- or Guatemalan-descended peoples, as well as to those of the dominant culture. Auestad ( 2013 ) presented a series of essays on the rise of political discourses across the world that highlighted elements of national security and identity (tradition), as well as the building of cultures of fear by focusing on the negative aspects of foreigners or those of different religious groups within single countries. Some elements of the U.S. presidential race rhetoric of 2015–2016 exemplified this xenophobic and ethnocentric trend.

Within the field of intercultural communication, at least two lines of research have focused on ethnocentrism. The first is by Jim Neuliep, who, with colleagues, has revisited the measurement of ethnocentrism in the classic 1950 work by the Frankfurt School, The Authoritarian Personality , with a new measure of ethnocentrism. After applying the measure to white Americans, Neuliep ( 2012 ) continues to test the relationship of ethnocentrism to other important intercultural variables, such as intercultural anxiety and communication satisfaction. The second is Milton Bennett’s ( 1993 ) consideration of ethnorelativism. In this approach, a range of attitudes reflects either ethnocentrism or ethnorelativism. Ethnocentric stances include denial (e.g., indifference toward or ignorance of any difference at all), defense (traditional ethnocentrism of denigrating the culture of the other or feeling one’s own culture is superior, but also in “going native”), and minimization (focusing on similarities and ignoring differences, by claiming “color blindness,” or focusing on how we are all the same, be that as “God’s children” or in the Marxist struggle against oppression; 43). As one grows more “ethnorelative,” or accepting of difference, one exhibits one of three stages: acceptance (being respectful of and even appreciating the value and behavioral differences of others), adaptation (actually adopting behaviors or views of other groups), or integration (adopting a worldview that transcends any single culture). This approach has gained ground around the world and in different disciplines, from Finland to Iran, with applications from cultural sensitivity to interreligious tensions.

One of the difficulties of discussing prejudice is the conceptual overlap between terms (e.g., xenophobia conflates with racial or ethnic prejudice; ethnocentrism might refer to any people group, such as ethnic groups, and not just nations). At the root of our understanding of prejudice is the very goal of “tolerance.” In fact, the notion of tolerance for diversity may be limited: It is often treated merely as “the application of the same moral principles and rules, caring and empathy, and feelings of connections to human beings of other perceived groups” (Baldwin & Hecht, 1995 , p. 65). That is, it is similar to Bennett’s ( 1993 ) notion of acceptance, of respect for difference, though that respect sometimes (a) occurs at a difference and (b) sometimes exists in behavioral form only, but is not internalized. Communication of tolerance is a worthwhile pursuit in our behavior and research; however, we argue that we can go beyond tolerance to appreciation—even to the behavioral and attitudinal integration of elements of the other culture (Hecht & Baldwin, 1998 ). There is a danger of such appreciation, as borrowing (e.g., “cultural hybridity”) occurs within power relations. We are not talking about a dominant group borrowing from subordinate or subaltern groups in a colonizing or folklorizing way, but about cultural learning and dialogue.

Limited Perspectives of Prejudice

That consideration of tolerance/prejudice should be treated as a dichotomy or a range is only one of the difficulties that has haunted the study and conceptualization of prejudice. Debates have swirled around the nature of prejudice, the causes of prejudice, and the “locus” of certain prejudices (such as racism or sexism), among other things. Allport ( 1979 ) suggests that prejudice is a “generalized” attitude—that if one is prejudiced, say, toward Jewish people, she or he will also be prejudiced toward communists, people of color, and so on. It is possible, however, that one might be prejudiced toward some groups, even in some contexts, but not toward other groups (Baldwin & Hecht, 1995 ).

The nature of prejudice

Allport ( 1979 ) defines prejudice as “an avertive [i.e., avoiding] or hostile attitude toward a person who belongs to a group, simply because he [or she] belongs to that group, and is therefore presumed to have the objectionable qualities ascribed to the group” (p. 7). By this definition, prejudice is an aspect of affect , or feeling toward a group, though it is closely related to cognitions , or thoughts about the group, referring to stereotypes. Also, prejudice is inherently negative, following the primary definition common in modern dictionaries, though a secondary definition includes any sort of prejudgment based on group belonging, such as prejudice toward one’s own group. Most dictionary definitions follow the attitudinal approach, though in common usage, people often use the term to refer to things like racism, which carry behavioral and even policy implications that are not strictly attitudes. By strictest definition, prejudice is an attitude that favors one group over another, based on or related to cognitions, and both leading to and influenced by behaviors (including communication), texts (e.g., media, rhetoric), and policies (following the notion of structuration, in which social structures guide social behavior, but social behavior in turn creates and changes social structures).

Causes of prejudice

Allport ( 1979 ) recognized a series of influences that impact a particular incident of prejudice, such as police brutality based on racial group/social class divisions or anti-Islamic bullying in secondary schools around the Western world. These include historical, sociological, situational, psychodynamic, and phenomenological (i.e., perceptual) influences. But ultimately, for Allport, a social psychologist, prejudice is “a problem of personality formation and development” (p. 41). For Althusser ( 1971 ), a Marxist philosopher, prejudice would likely, in the last instance, be an issue of economic and social class considerations. Ultimately, a cross-disciplinary perspective is more useful for understanding a complex phenomenon like prejudice (Hecht & Baldwin, 1998 ). A broader consideration should consider multiple causes (Baldwin, 1998 ), including evolutionary causes, psychological causes (both psychodynamic and perceptual), sociological causes, and rhetorical causes. Communication and behavior become central in each of these causes, highlighting the need for a communicative understanding of prejudice.

Evolutionary causes, often referred to under the rubric of sociobiology, focus on the way in which prejudice might be an inherited trait, possibly even genetic (see, e.g., essays in Reynolds, Falger, & Vine, 1987 ). This approach includes the idea that groups seek to preserve themselves (e.g., by preservation of a supposedly pure gene pool or because of fear of the stranger), the ethnocentrism already noted. Behaviors that exclude have a sense of “naturalness” in that they help a group to survive, and such exclusion of strangers may help to preserve a group’s existence. Some scholars have criticized this approach as a rationale for conservative politics that create a notion of “us” and “them” as natural and that exclude the other, often in racial or religious terms, in order to preserve the way of life of a dominant group within a culture or nation.

Psychological explanations of prejudice fall into at least two major divisions. The first, psychodynamic, suggests that prejudice serves as a mechanism for individuals to meet psychological needs. Thus researchers have long linked it to things such as ambivalence toward parents, rigid personality structure, and a need for authority (Allport, 1979 ; Adorno et al., 1950 ). We see this indirectly through Kenneth Burke’s ( 1967 ) approach to rhetoric in his analysis of Hitler’s campaign against Jewish people as a means to divert negative emotions related to economic and political difficulties from the mainstream German people to Jews, and in Edward Said’s ( 2003 ) Orientalism , which notes how Medieval Europe cast negative images of lust and vice on Middle Easterners that the Europeans did not see in themselves.

A second aspect of the psychological approach concerns perception or cognition. This contains a range of possible influences on prejudice, including such things as selective attention, perception, and recall of the negative behavior of outgroup members, or the notion of attributional biases that impact how we give meanings to the behavior of those of our ingroup and those of outgroups. At the center of many of these explanations is the notion of categorization of people (i.e., dividing them into cognitive groups such as ingroups and outgroups). Social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986 ) suggests that we cannot think of ourselves apart from the groups to which we belong; we engage in intergroup comparison as a means to make us feel better about our group; and, if our group does not compare well to a group we admire or must rely on in some way—often the dominant group—we engage in strategies to reclaim a sense of pride for our group or distance ourselves from it.

Categorization, in social identity theory, is not a form of prejudice—it is simply the mental placing of people (or things, actions, characteristics, etc.) into mental boxes. However, those boxes are closely related to the stereotypes that cling to groups. Stereotypes are overgeneralizations we make about groups that we apply to individuals in those groups (Herbst, 1997 ). Although these stereotypes provide a mental shortcut for processing information about others, they interfere with our encoding, storage, and recall of information about members of our own group and other groups (Stephan, 1985 ). Countless studies of stereotypes suggest that stereotypes, like ethnocentrism, can serve positive ingroup functions, that they sometimes have at least some basis in an actual behavior or custom (a “kernel of truth”), and that we stereotype both our own group and other groups. Devine (e.g., Devine & Sharp, 2009 ) has found that even people who report lower prejudice, if mentally occupied, still rely on stereotypes, suggesting that everyone is aware of societal stereotypes toward certain groups (e.g., the elderly, athletes, the deaf). It is likely that if we are on auto-pilot or in a state of mindlessness, we will resort to stereotypes. But individuating people (i.e., taking them out of the group we perceive them to be in and treating them as individuals; Dovidio, Gaertner, & Kawakami, 2003 ) may require deliberate cognitive effort.

Group-based, or sociological, approaches, like psychological approaches, are varied. These include Marxist approaches, which are themselves varied in form (see various essays in Rex & Mason, 1986 ). Some hold tightly to a “vulgar” vision of Marxism, framing intolerance like racism as a creation of the elite to divide the working classes and distract them from revolution through “false consciousness.” Few Marxists take such a severe approach, choosing to see looser relations between capital and the construction of intolerance, but in the “last instance,” seeing intolerance as linked to social class and economic systems. “Capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchal social systems are frequently identified as producing inherent race and gender inequalities which, in various ways, serve the needs of the systems they perpetuate” (Knowles & Mercer, 1992 , p. 110). Weberian approaches see a wider variety of classes than workers and elite, with prejudice linked not just to labor forces but to the struggle over goods, services, and prestige (Gerth & Mills, 1946 ). Other group-based factors also impact prejudice, such as perceived group competition for jobs and resources in times of economic upheaval (e.g., the 1970s oil crisis in the United States), known as realistic group conflict (Bobo, 1983 ); immigration reasons (refugees versus those seeking economic opportunity, patterns of settlement; Omi & Winant, 1986 ); and historically developed class statuses between groups that link immigrants or members of a minority group to a certain class (Wilson, 1978 ), such as the Gastarbeiter (guest-worker) Turks in Germany or the Algerian-descended French.

In a classic “chicken-egg” argument about which came first, it is fruitless to debate whether psychology leads to sociological causes or vice versa, and, in turn, whether these lead to the communicative expression of intolerance, or whether it is the communicative construction of group identities and intolerance that creates the attitudes (Ruscher, 2001 ). It is more likely that mental structures and communicative practices co-create each other, through forms we shall examine in more detail. One possible metaphor for understanding these influences, the impact of historical situations (such as the longstanding antipathy between Turkish and Greek Cypriots, Broome, 2005 ), and specific incidents (such as the attack on the World Trade Towers in New York City in 2001 ), is as layers building upon one other, or even as a hologram, in which we can imperfectly see some semblance of a complex prejudice through a single image—an experimental study on racial perceptions and media use, an analysis of an anti-Irish speech or a pro-nationalist song, or interviews with women who are victims of catcalling (Hecht & Baldwin, 1998 ). But, as a complete hologram provides the most faithful image, the most complete view of an intolerance will come through multiple views (e.g., disciplines), using multiple methods.

Racism: A Case Study in Prejudice

Racism as a specific type of prejudice is one of the most hotly discussed and debated sites of intolerance in contemporary times in the United States and beyond. Even countries that once imagined themselves as “racial democracies” in which racially different people lived side by side (like Brazil) are now admitting the harsh reality of entrenched and historic racism. Even though many there argue that class, not race, is the primary social distinction, as racism has become officially illegal, forms of overt racism, from social media to abuse and killing of unarmed blacks by police continue to receive recent focus in U.S. news.

Racism is a form of intolerance that is based on the supposedly biological distinction of race, but many authors today argue that race is a social construct, sometimes defined differently from country to country and even over time within a single country. Different authors have outlined the history of the notion of race in the English language, noting that at different times, it has referred to an ancestral clan (the race of Abraham), to supposed biological differences, and, more recently, to culture (Banton, 1987 ; Omi & Winant, 1986 ). Those who see a biological component cannot agree on how many races there are and, historically, politics and rhetoric have done as much to construct who belongs in a particular race as biology (e.g., in the early U.S., the Irish were considered “colored”). In the United States, race was based on racist assumptions, on one having even a small degree of colored blood in one’s ancestral lineage; in other cultures, race is based strictly on physiological features, regardless of lineage. Ethnicity , in contrast, is related more to the cultural origins of one’s background or ancestry, sometimes linked to a specific time and place. To emphasize its social constructedness, many authors bracket “race” with quotation marks.

Who Can Be Racist? The Locus of Racism (and Other Intolerances)

Can minority members be “racist”.

Beyond the nature of race itself, researchers and educators debate the very nature of racism. Some contend that racism is an intolerance based on the construction of race that is perpetrated and held by the support of the dominant system. For example, Malott and Schaefle ( 2015 ) define racism as “a system of oppression, whereby persons of a dominant racial group (whites in the United States) exercise power or privilege over those in nondominant groups” (p. 361). According to this argument, only whites can be racist in a white-dominated system (whether that dominance is by numbers or in political and social power). Others contend that racism is any system of beliefs—“held consciously or otherwise”—that treats members of a group that is different on supposedly biological grounds as “biologically different than one’s own” (Herbst, 1997 , p. 193). By this definition, anyone who sees another race group as inferior would be racist.

The locus of racism: Individual or structural?

This distinction in racism also applies to definitions of sexism or to the delineation between homophobia as a personal dislike or fear of LGBT individuals and heterosexism as a social structure that reinforces prejudice against them (Nakayama, 1998 ). The debate is similar to the definitional debate of prejudice in general—is it something that is strictly an individual trait, or is it something that is socially built into the structures of society—the laws, the media, the educational system, the church, and so on? Associated with this question is the nature of what racism is: The “individual-level” definition treats racism as a system of beliefs (i.e., a psychological construct), and the other treats it as a system of oppression that goes beyond individual psyche and personality to consider racism embedded within social structures. The question of where we see racism (and other intolerances) is vitally important. Those who see racism and other intolerances as primarily individual-level (stereotypes, personal dislikes, etc.) tend to address intolerance through training and educational programs in organizations and schools; those who see it as systemic believe that such approaches ignore larger issues of policy, law, segregation, discrimination, and media/rhetoric that produce and reproduce racist beliefs or create an environment that makes them grow. We see this tension, for example, in Rattansi’s ( 1992 ) discussion of the debate between multicultural education—an educational solution to tolerance focused on educating about differences—and antiracism, which addresses political and social structures that propagate and support racism.

Racism: Defined by intent or result?

A related definitional distinction regarding racism concerns whether an intent of harm or exclusion is necessary to define thoughts or actions as racist. Miles ( 1989 ) criticizes earlier notions of racism, largely in that they re-inscribe the notion of race as if it were a concrete reality rather than a social construction. He weaves together a new approach to racism that begins with discourses that serve to exclude the “other” (based on supposed biological differences); for Miles, “the concept of racism should refer to the function, rather than the content of the discourses” (p. 49), allowing racism to include things that may not sound racist but still seek to exclude the other. Miles differentiates racism from racialization , the categorization of people based on supposed biological differences. He argues against the use of racism and disagrees with a stance that would have only whites being racist, such that “all ‘white’ people are universally and inevitably sick with racism” (p. 53), as this concept may ignore the specifics of racism in particular countries, cultures, or circumstances; however, he notes the need to consider institutional racism—racism built into organizational, legal, and social structures—that does favor whites in many countries. By this, one could speak of racism as something any person could hold or express, but institutional racism would be reserved for a group that has power in a particular context. Finally, he bases racism not on the intent of an action, but on the result. He argues that racism is an ideology, based on differentiation, that leads to “exclusionary practices” (pp. 77–78), such as differential treatment or allocation of resources and opportunities, regardless of one’s intent or even awareness of the ideological underpinnings of one’s actions. Goldberg ( 1993 ) argues that we should allow racism to include either intent or result.

Including resulting exclusionary practice in our definition of racism has implications for redressing or addressing racism. First, it suggests a limitation in addressing overt racist thoughts and stereotypes only through education, as policies, laws, and social structures foster an environment for the presence of such thoughts and their communication. Miles ( 1989 ) advocates that “strategies for eliminating racism should concentrate less on trying exclusively to persuade those who articulate racism that they are ‘wrong’ and more on changing those particular economic and political relations” (p. 82). A second implication is that, even as we seek to address racism through everyday interactions and social media, because racism is such a charged topic, we will advance our cause little by calling an action, a joke, or a Facebook or Twitter posting “racist.” The poster, holding a more traditional view of racism as intentionally harmful in some way, will deny racist intent, and a charge of racism will move the discussion into the original communicator’s attempts to avoid the charge of racism (or sexism, etc.), rather than addressing the specific policy, image, or statement. Instead, we might discuss and demonstrate through evidence the way that the policy or image excludes others based on race. Without invoking the “r-word,” we may have a better chance at engaging in dialogues about policies, laws, and communicative behaviors that exclude others.

Intersectionalities of Racism

As we have begun to notice, one thing that complicates the concept of racism is its overlap with other terms, such as prejudice (with racism being a subset of prejudice). So, although xenophobia and ethnocentrism are distinct and separate from racism, the “other” within these concepts is often articulated or perceived in terms of race. A focus on racism and antiracism, unfortunately, often excludes other bases of intolerance that may be even more prominent within a given area, such as religious intolerance, sexism, or heterosexism. At the same time, it is useful to see how racism intersects with and sometimes leads to other intolerances, all of which have received much thought in recent years.

In some cases, feminists and antiracists have been at odds, proponents of each claiming that their sphere of oppression is the one that merits the most attention. Feminism is defined as “the belief that men and women are equal and should have equal respect and opportunities in all spheres of life—personal, social, work, and public” (Wood, 2008 , p. 324). Feminist communication research seeks to make the voices of women heard, to highlight their experiences within the social construction of gender, and “their experiences of oppression and of coping with and resisting that oppression” (Foss & Foss, 1994 , p. 39). Recent feminists consider how patriarchy, or male power or hegemony over the realities and voices of women, is not something maintained only by men nor is it deliberate. Rather, it is held in place by systems often beyond the awareness of men and women, and consented to and participated in by women themselves (Zompetti, 2012 ). Each of these ideas could also apply to racism, revealing a similarity between sexism and racism. But racism and sexism are also joined in the experiences of women of color, whose specific life situations are not fully addressed by either antiracist efforts or feminism. Collins ( 1990 ), for example, argues that African American women in the United States live in a site of triple oppression—by race, sex, and class, with these oppressions articulated by both the dominant white community and within the black community.

Queer theory

Queer theory seeks to challenge the way in which society passes on heterosexuality as the norm. Warner ( 1991 ) sees oppression of gays and lesbians in every aspect of society and in “a wide range of institutions and ideology” (p. 5). But even more so, he feels that the academy’s silence regarding oppression of sexual identity participates in that oppression. Chávez ( 2013 ) supports this claim, noting that at the writing of her article, no major journal in the National Communication Association had devoted a full issue to queer studies. Again, recent scholars have been looking at the intersection of race and sexual orientation (Yep, 2013 ), such as the representations and experiences of older gay male adults, Latina lesbians, and transgender blacks.

Whiteness studies

Based on the early writings of Richard Dyer ( 1997 ) and Ruth Frankenberg ( 1993 ), researchers have highlighted the notion of whiteness —a hidden system of ideology and social structure that maintains whites in a position of advantage—but one that is often invisible to, and yet defended by, whites (Wander, Nakayama, & Martin, 1999 ). Whiteness studies call attention to areas of white privilege. “By exposing the ‘invisibility’ of whiteness, the study of whiteness helps us understand the way that white domination continues” (p. 22). A current search for “whiteness” in a communication library search engine reveals over 800 articles on the topic. Many of these are media studies on how whiteness is promoted and/or challenged in a wide variety of texts, including South Park , the Rush Hour movies, The Hunger Games , and Glee . But whiteness is also analyzed in areas of education, everyday language, and health and organizational communication, as well as in many different countries.

Orientalism/postcolonialism

whiteness studies owe part of their heritage to postcolonialism, which has its own roots in the conceptualization of Orientalism by Edward Said ( 2003 ). Said analyzes European art and literature to reveal the construction of the Arab or Middle Easterner as “other.” He notes how the Western ideology of the East (referring to the Middle East) folklorizes and sexualizes Middle Easterners, treating them as backward, in a way that justifies European colonization and paternalism. Thousands of books now deal in some way with Orientalism, and Said’s notion of the “other” has become a stock theme in how we consider the racial other. For example, though not framed explicitly in Orientalism, James Baldwin’s famous 1955 essay “Stranger in the Village” talks about the rage of the black man as he confronts white America and the naiveté of whites—a naiveté that they work hard to preserve (thus relating Baldwin’s ideas to whiteness). When whites arrive in Africa, blacks are astonished:

The white man takes the astonishment as tribute, for he arrives to conquer and to convert the natives, whose inferiority in relation to himself is not even to be questioned; whereas I, without a thought of conquest, find myself among a people whose culture controls me, has even, in a sense, created me, people who have cost me more in anguish and rage than they will ever know, who yet do not even know of my existence … The rage of the disesteemed is personally fruitless, but it is also absolutely inevitable: the rage, so generally discounted, so little understood even among the people whose daily bread it is, is one of the things that makes history.

Postcolonialism, building upon Orientalism, considers all locations where one nation or people group has colonized another group, considering the cultural, political, and social ramifications of that colonization and seeking to remedy social ills that it has brought about. Shome and Hegde ( 2002 ) call the approach “interventionist and highly political” (p. 250). Postcolonialism notes how much of the world is forced to work within thought systems created by the Western world (an effect only magnified through the rise of the internet and globalization). Postcolonial writers are often interested in issues such as migration of people groups (including diasporic groups); the hybrid (but power-laden) mixture of ideas, artifacts, and behaviors between cultures; the liminal spaces between cultures; and the imperialism of ideas (Bhabha, 1994 ). Thus, postcolonialism is inherently about prejudice and oppression beyond racism, though it also has links to racism specifically, as authors consider the ways that some have used racial categories to colonize others (e.g., see essays in Nakayama & Halualani, 2010 ).

Discrimination: Considering the Form(s) of Intolerance

As we have seen, it is difficult to discuss prejudice in general or racism specifically without moving into issues of institutionalized prejudice, media representations, school and government policies, and so on. In this sense, both prejudice and racism are intricately intertwined with discrimination. Discrimination specifically refers to “behavior that denies equal treatment to people because of their membership in some group” (Herbst, 1997 , p. 185). It is based on the “beliefs, feelings, fantasies, and motivations of prejudice” (p. 185), but these mental or social concepts are not in themselves discrimination. Discrimination involves behavior.

Institutional Discrimination

When we think of institutional-level discrimination, many examples come to mind. These include things like not allowing certain groups housing or refusing other privileges, resources, or opportunities to them. At the writing of this chapter, a popular U.S. media topic is the county clerk, Kim Davis, who refused to give marriage licenses to gays or lesbians based on her faith, despite a state law that allowed her to do so. The Jim Crowe laws of the United States, which gave unequal educational and public access rights to blacks and whites is a classic example, with many facilities being for “whites only.” The website Global Issues (Shah, 2010 ) details instances of racism and racial discrimination around the world, such as racism against white farmers in Zimbabwe and discrimination against the Dalits—the “untouchables” in India.

Genocide and ethnic cleansing

At the extreme end of discrimination, we have genocide and ethnic cleansing . For example, around 1915 , the Ottomon (Turkish) empire slaughtered 1.5 million Armenians (75% of the Turkish Armenian population). The Turkish government took Armenian (largely Christian) children and converted them, giving them to Islamic families. Even today, Turkey defends this “Turkification” of Turkey as a necessary act of war and has resisted the U.S. and other nations defining it as genocide (Armenian genocide, n.d. ). Other genocides have occurred in Central Europe (the Holocaust) in the 1930s–1940s, Rwanda in 2003 , Cambodia in the 1970s, and the Greek/Pontic genocide of World War I. Extreme discrimination includes hate crimes and overt hate groups. The introduction of this chapter noted the prevalence of hate crimes and hate groups within the United States and other nations.

Redlining and racial profiling

In many countries, overt forms of discrimination for many (but seldom all) groups have been outlawed. Institutional discrimination itself may take forms that are harder to name and prove, such as redlining , the process by which banks give fewer mortgages to people of color, based on the belief that they are less able to repay loans. Some real estate agents may steer people of color away from rentals in upscale neighborhoods; school advisers may tell people of color that their children are more suited for trade school rather than college or graduate school. In the United States in 2014–2015 , there was a spate of cases surrounding potential police brutality against unarmed black men, leading to the “Black Lives Matter” movement. There is also racial profiling , such as when police pay more attention to people of color, stopping and/or searching them more frequently than they do whites (what some people of color call “DWB” or “driving while black”). A growing and complex array of academic studies examine whether or not profiling exists and, if so, what its nature is (e.g., is it pro-white, or does it depend on the race of the officer?). A similar phenomenon experienced by many people of color is being followed through stores by security guards, regardless of their attire or appearance. Notably, some aspects of discrimination, such as redlining, might be done, at least in the minds of the banker, real estate agent, or high school counselor, without a notion of racial discrimination; but here, Miles’s ( 1989 ) notion of racism defined by exclusionary outcome would classify the behaviors as racist, as they exclude based on supposed biological differences.

Intolerant Communication

Redneck racism/prejudice.

Central to our discussion is the way that discrimination and racism can occur through communicative behavior. Brislin ( 1991 ) outlined several forms of discriminatory communication. In addition to hate crimes and ethnic cleansing, he mentions redneck racism —the expression of blatant intolerance toward someone of another race. He applies these categories to racism, but we can apply them to any group. These might include jokes, statements (e.g., about the inferiority or backwardness of a group), or slurs or names for people of another group (also called ethnophaulisms ). Conventional wisdom, for example, suggests that there are many more slurs for women then there are for men, and most of these have some sexual connotation.

Sometimes, the intolerance is slightly veiled though still present, as when we resort to “us/them” language or talk to someone from another group about “your people.” Brislin’s ( 1991 ) notion of arm’s-length prejudice occurs when someone voices tolerance for a group, typically of being accepting of them in the neighborhood or workplace, but wants to restrict them from closer relationships, such as marrying a family member (related to Bogardus’s notion of social distance ; Allport, 1979 ). Prejudice might manifest in statements like “She’s very smart for an ‘X’” or “I have a friend who is a ‘Y,’ and he is very articulate,” since such statements assume that most Xs are not smart and most Ys are not articulate.

Prejudiced colloquialisms

Prejudice also manifests in our use of colloquialisms that play upon a particular aspect of identity or ability, such as calling something “lame” or “retarded.” Both the harm and use of such phrases has been established. For example, one study found that hearing the phrase “That’s so gay” made gays and lesbians feel less accepted in the university setting and, to a lesser degree, increased reported health problems. Over 45% of the participants had heard the word “gay” linked to something “stupid or undesirable” (Hall & LaFrance, 2012 , p. 430) ten or more times within the last year. Hall and LaFrance ( 2012 ) find a complex interplay between identity—males’ endorsement of gender identity norms andthe desire to distance themselves from homosexuality, as well as the social norms around them, and their likelihood to use the expression.

Prejudice built into language

We might well say that intolerance can be embedded in every level of language. In one classic study, men interrupted women much more than women interrupted men. If women overlapped men, men continued their turn speaking, but if men interrupted women, women yielded their turn speaking (Zimmerman & West, 1975 ). Coates’s ( 2003 ) analysis of narratives told by men in mixed company (such as around the family dinner table) notes that men are both the target and subject of most stories, with dinner table discussion typically centering on patriarchal authority. Research has explored prejudice through verbal and nonverbal behaviors toward people of different ages, people with disabilities, people with different languages or dialects, and other groups, including much theory and research on how we adjust or do not adjust our behavior toward those we perceive to be of different groups (communication accommodation theory; Gallois, Ogay, & Giles, 2005 ) or how minority members must negotiate their communication with dominant group members because of contexts of power and prejudice (co-cultural theory; Orbe & Spellers, 2005 ).

Bar-Tal ( 1990 ) and Zur ( 1991 ) note the way that we use rhetoric to create a sense of others (i.e., to create the identity of the enemy in a way that then justifies discrimination) resonates with Burke’s ( 1967 ) analysis of Hitler’s rhetorical construction of the Jewish people. Collins and Clément ( 2012 ), summarizing research from a special 2007 issue of Journal of Language and Social Psychology on language and discrimination up to the present, summarize the role of language as it pertains to prejudice:

Language is the primary means through which prejudice can be explicitly and implicitly communicated and is, therefore, a major contributor to its transmission and maintenance. But language can also play a more rooted and integral role in prejudice: changing perceptions by distorting the information it carries, focusing attention on social identities, and being a factor in the definition of group boundaries (p. 389).

Intolerance gone underground: Subtle forms of prejudice

As early as the mid-1980s, authors began to argue that in Western societies, racism and other forms of intolerance were going underground (i.e., aware that the redneck varieties of intolerance were socially unacceptable, people expressed less overt intolerance but continued to show intolerance through racism in ways that were “subtle” and “everyday”—a new and modern racism). People might express such forms of racism (and by extension other intolerances) through nonverbal behaviors, such as placing change on the counter instead of in an outgroup member’s hand, or through subtle sayings and word usages that exclude or put down the other person in some way that is not clearly distinguishable as prejudice. In the new racism, minority groups are not spoken of as inferior but as “different,” “although in many respects there are ‘deficiencies,’ such as single-parent families, drug abuse, lacking achievement values, and dependence on welfare and affirmative action—‘pathologies’ that need to be corrected” (van Dijk, 2000 , p. 34). Today, researchers and social activists refer to these subtle manifestations of prejudice as microagressions .

Symbolic racism is similar to subtle racism (Sears & Henry, 2005 ), though it relates more to political attitudes. Researchers have framed symbolic racism to include elements of anti-black sentiment hidden by political attitudes (e.g., that affirmative action has gone too far, that blacks are demanding too much; McConahay, 1986 ). Political research has a corollary in communication in that often, as whites talk about economic or political issues, there is at least a mental if not an explicit verbal coding of race or ethnic “othering.” International ownership of business becomes an issue when Japanese or Chinese companies start buying U.S. businesses, regardless of the large and long-term Dutch and English business holdings in America; discussions about welfare, gangs, and urban decay are often subtly about race. Similar verbal coding may also hold true with other identity groups.

Finally, in terms of face-to-face communication, researchers have explored the notion of “benevolent” intolerance. Discussions of things such as benevolent racism or sexism are often based on a larger notion of benevolent domination, whereby one nation or group seeks to dominate another, supposedly in its best interests (based on Rudyard Kipling’s notion of the “white man’s burden”). For example, Esposito and Romano ( 2014 ) contrast benevolent racism to other forms of post-U.S.-civil-rights forms of racism, such as laissez-faire racism, symbolic racism, and color-blind racism. Each might oppose affirmative action, for example, but for different reasons. Laissez-faire would oppose it based on ideas of meritocracy and free enterprise, blaming blacks themselves for lack of economic progress. Symbolic racism would hold that “the United States is a fair and equitable society where everyone has ample opportunity to succeed through hard work and talent” (p. 74), and that blacks who use the “race card” are hypersensitive—they are “too pushy, too demanding, too angry” (McConahay & Hough, 1976 , p. 38). Color-blind racism starts with what seems to be a reasonable assumption, that all people are the same, but then moves to assume that lack of progress of minority members is due to their personal choices, low work ethic, or lack of ability, and ignores structural support for inequalities.

Benevolent racism has a long history, even into slavery, a time in which some whites felt they were doing blacks a favor by controlling them and “providing” for them. More recently, it involves a seemingly positive attitude toward blacks that then opposes any social reforms like affirmative action as belittling blacks and working against their natural progress as citizens (Esposito & Romano, 2014 ). Benevolent sexism holds the same basic idea: Rather than sexism being based on anti-woman attitudes, it can also be supported by putting women “on a pedestal,” characterizing them as “pure creatures who ought to be protected, supported, and adored, and whose love is necessary to make a man complete” (Glick & Fiske, 2001 , p. 109). Extensive research has linked such benevolent ideas about women to negative outcomes for them.

Intolerance in the media and on the internet

Finally, many volumes have been written on the issues of stereotypes and intolerance in the media. This includes both social scientific work, such as the cultivation theory research that analyzes both representation of minorities in the media in different countries and the research that considers the effects of such representation. It also includes a wide array of critical and cultural analyses from the cultural studies school. Many of these analyses use the principles discussed—feminism, postcolonialism, critical race theory, whiteness, and so on. They work to demonstrate how the media systematically ignore, oversimplify, or negatively represent particular groups. One line of research in this field is the focus on the symbolic annihilation of race (Coleman & Chivers Yochim, 2008 ), which notes how, unlike stereotypes in the media that focus on the presence of some characteristic associated with a group, symbolic annihilation also considers “the meanings associated with absence, omission, or even inclusion that is not so obviously problematic (negative)” (p. 2), in terms of what such absences and seemingly benign images mean.

With the growth of the internet and video gaming, a final area of importance in understanding, researching, and working against prejudice includes all new media. The internet gives impetus for new research to understand hate groups on the media, flaming (e.g., in comments on video-hosting websites such as YouTube), and social media. We see examples of the use of social media for racist purposes in the flurry of racist twitters that followed the crowning of Nina Davuluri, an American of East Indian descent. Research considers both the presence of stereotypes in such media, as well as their effects.

The potential of communication

Unlike some early critical writers, who felt that media imagery (including new media) only produce and reproduce prevailing (prejudiced) ideologies, we must also consider the potential of face-to-face, mediated, and new media as places to challenge oppression. In terms of face-to-face communication, we can work through education to dispel stereotypes. That education can be simply on cultural differences and accomplishments, though changing cognitions alone may not change deeply felt affective prejudice, and only time (as more tolerant individuals assume positions of leadership) will lead to changes in discriminatory social structures. This is why some advocate for political education that addresses both personal and structural prejudice more directly, as well as political action and intervention in media systems.

Many scholars represent interpersonal contact as one of the best ways to address prejudice. Contact theory holds great potential for the planning of interventions to reduce intergroup tensions, as it describes how interpersonal contact with people from outgroups under the right conditions can work by changing both attitudes and affect, especially if people can see the other person as both a member of a new group while still recognizing their original group identity (Dovidio et al., 2003 ). Thomas Pettigrew ( 2016 ) outlines the history of research on authoritarianism (the desire and support for strong authority structures) and relative deprivation (the feeling that one’s group is disadvantaged in comparison to another group) as two of the main predictors of intergroup prejudice. He notes how, while personality factors like authoritarianism and cognitive rigidity are related to greater intolerance and make the likelihood of meaningful intergroup contact more unlikely, even in the presence of these variables, contact programs can have a positive effect for people with prejudice A meta-analysis of 515 contact studies suggests that contact works specifically by increasing knowledge of the other group, decreasing anxiety when one is with the other group, and increasing empathy for the other group (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008 ).

In terms of media, we see both a growth in the production of media that challenges and resists stereotypes, rigid gender constructions, and so on, as well as a growth of grassroots efforts to highlight such oppression. One such effort is the website Fat, Ugly, or Slutty , a site composed of posts contributed by women who are stereotyped or verbally assaulted by men in video gaming websites, usually when the women have beaten them. The women are able to post comments made by other players, their own avatars, and even videos that the men sometimes send them. Efforts like these highlight forms of oppression that occur throughout the internet, but they also highlight the potential of the internet for addressing these forms of oppression in creative ways.

Conclusions

We have seen throughout this article that culture, prejudice, racism, and discrimination are related in complicated ways. Some people even see the characteristics of a particular culture (e.g., mainstream America’s conception of male and female beauty, the definition of a “good” education, or the focus on individualism) as negotiated between people with economic and power interests. Cultures (using the term much more widely than “nation”) are always ethnocentric, with individuals sometimes being xenophobic. But these forms of intolerance are frequently linked to other forms of intolerance—religious, racial, ethnic, and otherwise. Prejudice, most technically, is an affect—a desire to avoid someone because of her or his group, as opposed to stereotypes, which are more cognitive associations with a group—and efforts to reduce prejudice should focus on both affect and cognition. But intolerance is also clearly linked to higher-order manifestations of prejudice, such as discrimination through legal and organizational policies, symbolic annihilation of groups in the media, and everyday forms of discrimination, be they overt or subtle. More likely, communicative and policy forms of prejudice (and their manifest effects in terms of housing, education, job opportunities, and so on) “create” prejudicial perceptions, which in turn create the conditions of discrimination. Racism serves as an example—but only one of many—of the links among attitude, communicative action, policy, and social structure. With this complex view in mind, we can see that any attempts to redress or ameliorate racism or any other intolerance must include not only education, or even merely a wide array of communicative responses (media and face-to-face), but also efforts at addressing social inequalities at the structural and policy levels.

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Talking About Race: Social Identity and Systems of Oppression

Whether we are aware of it or not, we are all assigned multiple social identities. Within each category, there is a hierarchy - a social status with dominant and non-dominant groups. As with race , dominant members can bestow benefits to members they deem "normal," or limit opportunities to members that fall into "other" categories.

A person of the non-dominant group can experience oppression in the form of limitations, disadvantages, or disapproval. They may even suffer abuse from individuals, institutions, or cultural practices. "Oppression" refers to a combination of prejudice and institutional power that creates a system that regularly and severely discriminates against some groups and benefits other groups.

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Systems of Oppression The term "systems of oppression" helps us better identify inequity by calling attention to the historical and organized patterns of mistreatment. In the United States, systems of oppression (like systemic racism) are woven into the very foundation of American culture, society, and laws. Other examples of systems of oppression are sexism, heterosexism, ableism, classism, ageism, and anti-Semitism. Society's institutions, such as government, education, and culture, all contribute or reinforce the oppression of marginalized social groups while elevating dominant social groups.

Social Identities A social identity is both internally constructed and externally applied, occurring simultaneously. Educators from oneTILT define social identity as having these three characteristics:

Exists (or is consistently used) to bestow power, benefits, or disadvantage.
Is used to explain differences in outcomes, effort, or ability.
Is immutable or otherwise sticky (difficult, costly, or dangerous) to change.

Stop and Think!

Explore your own social identities [ view PDF ]

Learn More!

Download this fact sheet on privilege and oppression in American society from Kalamazoo College

There is no hierarchy of oppressions. Audre Lorde

Oppression causes deep suffering, but trying to decide whether one oppression is worse than others is problematic. It diminishes lived experiences and divides communities that should be working together. Many people experience abuse based on multiple social identities. Often, oppressions overlap to cause people even more hardship. This overlapping of oppressed groups is referred to as "intersectionality ." Legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term in the 1980s to describe how black women faced heightened struggles and suffering in American society because they belonged to multiple oppressed social groups.

Watch: A short video on black women and the concept of intersectionality. From the NMAAHC, #APeoplesJourney , "African American Women and the Struggle for Equality.”

During the time Crenshaw was articulating the concept of intersectionality, poet-scholar and social activist Audre Lorde warned America against fighting against some oppressions but not others. She insisted, "There is no hierarchy of oppression." All oppressions must be recognized and fought against simultaneously. She pushed American society to understand that although we possess different identities, we are all connected as human beings.

“So long as we are divided because of our particular identities we cannot join together in effective political action.”

Audre Lorde cautioned us about the ways that our various identities can prevent us from seeing our shared humanity. Why do you think she felt this was a danger to all people?

In American society, systems of oppression and their effects on people have a long, profound history. However, America and our society can change. As our country continues to evolve, we can acknowledge its problems and work to make changes for the better. We can join together to resist the status quo and the systemic barriers that exist to create new systems of justice, fairness, and compassion for us all.

To make this better America, each of us should look at our own privileges and power. Some people have more power or influence than others, and this can shift quickly according to circumstances . Do you enjoy power, privilege, or influence? If so, what do you do with it? Do you silently enjoy your moments of comfort? Or, do you take risks to stand in solidarity with others?

Take a moment to reflect

Let's Think

“I learned a lot about systems of oppression and how they can be blind to one another by talking to black men. I was once talking about gender and a man said to me, ’Why does it have to be you as a woman? Why not you as a human being?’ This type of question is a way of silencing a person's specific experiences. Of course, I am a human being, but there are particular things that happen to me in the world because I am a woman.” - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Why do you think Ngozi Adichie insisted on being able to talk directly about her specific identity as a woman?
What identities are important to you that others don’t always acknowledge?

It can be hard to talk about oppression no matter what side you find yourself on. However, these conversations are needed to develop a deeper understanding of the issues and prevent further harm. An effective way to enter into these kinds of conversations is by thinking through your own social identity.
Do this “Social Identity Timeline Activity” with one or more people .
Find relevant handouts here . Source: Resource adapted for use by the Program on Intergroup Relations, University of Michigan; Resource hosted by LSA Inclusive Teaching Initiative, University of Michigan .
Share about the process of your identity formation with your partners using the discussion questions.
WATCH: How the U.S. Suppressed Native American Identity
How do you think individuals, institutions, and the dominant American society justified this cruel and inhumane treatment?
What kept those who had power and voice (government officials, school teachers, civic leaders, regular citizens, etc.) from acknowledging the humanity of these children and preventing this atrocity?
Banks connects historical oppression to current oppression faced by Native peoples. How can we join together as allies against this oppression?

Work to be continuously self-reflective about your own privilege and power. Write self-reflections and revisit them so that you can seek out resources and supports to stop your own contributions to oppression.
Be a Georgia Gilmore by joining with others in teaching, advocating, and organizing locally to dismantle systems of oppression where you are.

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Cultural Violence: Its Forms, Effects, and Solutions

Abstract: Cultural violence refers to the social norms, practices, and ideologies that promote and sustain violence and oppression towards specific groups or individuals. It can take various forms, including structural violence, symbolic violence, and direct violence. This blog post aims to provide a comprehensive overview of cultural violence by examining its various forms, effects, and solutions. The article is organized into ten main headings, each with three subheadings, covering the different aspects of cultural violence.

Cultural violence

Table of Contents

Cultural violence is a pervasive and insidious form of violence that affects millions of people around the world. It is often overlooked or ignored, as it operates at a subconscious level, perpetuated by social norms, practices, and beliefs that are deeply ingrained in our societies. Cultural violence can take many different forms, including structural violence, symbolic violence, and direct violence, and can be experienced by individuals and groups who are marginalized or discriminated against on the basis of their gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, or any other aspect of their identity.

Forms of Cultural Violence

Structural violence.

Structural violence refers to the systematic ways in which social structures and institutions create and maintain unequal power relations, resulting in the marginalization and oppression of certain groups of people.
Examples of structural violence include unequal access to education, healthcare, and job opportunities, as well as the lack of political representation and participation.
Structural violence can be perpetuated by government policies, economic systems, and social norms that reinforce discrimination and inequality.

Symbolic Violence

Symbolic violence refers to the ways in which language, symbols, and cultural practices are used to legitimize and normalize unequal power relations and oppression.
Examples of symbolic violence include derogatory language, stereotypes, and cultural practices that reinforce gender, racial, or ethnic hierarchies.
Symbolic violence can be perpetuated by the media, education, and cultural institutions that promote dominant cultural values and perspectives.

Direct Violence

Direct violence refers to physical, psychological, or emotional harm inflicted on individuals or groups through the use of force or coercion.
Examples of direct violence include hate crimes, domestic violence, and police brutality.
Direct violence can be perpetuated by individuals or groups who seek to maintain their power and control over others.

Effects of Cultural Violence

Physical and mental health effects.

Cultural violence can have severe physical and mental health effects on individuals who are subjected to it.
Physical health effects can include injury, illness, and disability, while mental health effects can include trauma, anxiety, and depression.
Cultural violence can also lead to the development of negative health behaviors, such as substance abuse and self-harm.

Social and Economic Effects

Cultural violence can have significant social and economic effects on individuals and communities.
Social effects can include isolation, exclusion, and discrimination, while economic effects can include poverty, unemployment, and limited access to resources.
Cultural violence can also perpetuate intergenerational cycles of poverty and marginalization.

Societal Effects

Cultural violence can have profound effects on the wider society, including the erosion of trust, social cohesion, and democratic values.
Societal effects can include increased social conflict, political instability, and the breakdown of social institutions.
Cultural violence can also lead to the perpetuation of social inequality and the denial of basic human rights for certain groups of people.

Causes of Cultural Violence

Historical and structural factors.

Historical and structural factors, such as colonization, slavery, and patriarchy, can contribute to the development and perpetuation of cultural violence.
These factors create power imbalances and unequal distribution of resources, which can lead to the marginalization and oppression of certain groups of people.
The legacy of historical and structural factors can continue to impact contemporary society through social norms, practices, and ideologies.

Cultural and Religious Beliefs

Cultural and religious beliefs can also contribute to the development and perpetuation of cultural violence.
Certain cultural and religious practices can reinforce discriminatory attitudes and behaviors towards specific groups of people.
These beliefs can be deeply ingrained in social norms and practices, making it challenging to challenge and change them.

Political and Economic Factors

Political and economic factors, such as authoritarianism, neoliberalism, and globalization, can contribute to the development and perpetuation of cultural violence.
These factors can create conditions of inequality and injustice, which can lead to the marginalization and oppression of certain groups of people.
Political and economic factors can also contribute to the perpetuation of cultural violence by reinforcing dominant cultural values and perspectives.

Examples of Cultural Violence

Gender-based violence.

Gender-based violence is a form of cultural violence that is experienced by women and gender groups .
Examples of gender-based violence include sexual assault, domestic violence, and forced marriage.
Gender-based violence is perpetuated by social norms and practices that reinforce patriarchal values and gender hierarchies.

Racism and Xenophobia

Racism and xenophobia are forms of cultural violence that target individuals and groups based on their race or ethnicity.
Examples of racism and xenophobia include hate crimes, discrimination, and racial profiling.
Racism and xenophobia are perpetuated by social norms and practices that reinforce white supremacy and racial hierarchies.

LGBTQ+ Discrimination

Discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals is a form of cultural violence that targets individuals based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Examples of LGBTQ+ discrimination include hate crimes, employment discrimination, and denial of basic human rights.
LGBTQ+ discrimination is perpetuated by social norms and practices that reinforce heteronormativity and cisnormativity.

Solutions to Cultural Violence

Education and awareness.

Education and awareness campaigns can help to raise awareness about cultural violence and its impact on individuals and communities.
Educational programs can teach individuals about the history and effects of cultural violence and provide strategies for challenging and dismantling oppressive structures.
Awareness campaigns can also help to challenge cultural norms and beliefs that perpetuate violence and promote social justice and equality.

Policy and Legal Reform

Policy and legal reform can help to address the root causes of cultural violence and provide protections for marginalized groups.
Examples of policy and legal reform include anti-discrimination laws, affirmative action policies, and gender and sexuality education programs.
Policy and legal reform can also help to hold individuals and institutions accountable for perpetuating cultural violence.

Grassroots Organizing and Activism

Grassroots organizing and activism can empower individuals and communities to challenge cultural violence and create social change.
Examples of grassroots organizing and activism include protests, community organizing, and mutual aid networks.
Grassroots organizing and activism can also help to amplify the voices of marginalized groups and create networks of support and solidarity.

Cultural violence is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon that can have profound impacts on individuals and communities. It is perpetuated by social norms and practices that reinforce oppressive structures and deny basic human rights to certain groups of people. However, there are solutions to cultural violence, including education and awareness, policy and legal reform, and grassroots organizing and activism. By working together, we can challenge and dismantle cultural violence and create a more just and equitable society.

Before concluding, it is important to note that the opinions and views expressed in this blog post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or institution the author may be affiliated with. This blog post is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. It is also important to recognize that cultural violence affects individuals and communities in different ways, and the experiences of marginalized groups should always be centered and prioritized in discussions about cultural violence and its impacts.

Last worded from Author

As we navigate a world that is still plagued by cultural violence, it is important to remember that change is possible. We must all do our part in challenging oppressive norms and structures, and work towards creating a more just and equitable society. It will take education, policy reform, and grassroots activism to achieve this goal, but the reward will be a world where all individuals and communities can thrive and live free from violence and oppression.

Cultural violence refers to social norms, beliefs, and practices that perpetuate and normalize oppression, discrimination, and violence against certain groups of people. This can include gender-based violence, racism, and discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals, among other forms of oppression.

Unlike physical violence, which is visible and tangible, cultural violence is often more subtle and insidious. It can be perpetuated through language, social norms, and institutions, making it more difficult to identify and address.

Cultural violence can affect individuals and communities from all backgrounds, but it often disproportionately impacts marginalized groups, such as women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals.

Examples of cultural violence can include victim-blaming in cases of sexual assault, stereotypes that perpetuate harmful beliefs about certain groups of people, and discriminatory policies and practices that limit the rights and opportunities of marginalized individuals and communities.

Challenging cultural violence requires a multi-faceted approach, including education and awareness, policy reform, and grassroots organizing and activism. It is important to center the experiences of marginalized groups and work towards creating a more just and equitable society.

While cultural violence may never be completely eradicated, it is possible to reduce its impact and prevalence through sustained efforts towards education, policy reform, and grassroots activism.

Individuals can help in the fight against cultural violence by educating themselves on the issue, challenging harmful social norms and stereotypes, supporting policies and organizations that work towards social justice, and advocating for the rights of marginalized groups.

Addressing cultural violence is essential for creating a more just and equitable society. It is a necessary step towards ending oppression, discrimination, and violence against marginalized individuals and communities, and ensuring that all people are able to live free from harm and oppression.

Galtung, J. (1990). Cultural violence. Journal of Peace Research, 27(3), 291-305. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343390027003005
Definition Physical Violence: Understanding the Causes
Different Types of Violence
Emotional Violence: Understanding the Invisible Form of Abuse

DR. ASHUTOSH TRIPATHI

Greetings, I am Dr. Ashutosh Tripathi, a psychologist with extensive expertise in criminal behavior and its impact on psychological well-being. I hold a Master of Physics (Honors), a Master of Philosophy, a Master of Psychology, and a PhD in Psychology from BHU in India. Over the past 13 years, I have been privileged to serve more than 3200 patients with unique and varied psychological needs. My clinical work is guided by a deep passion for helping individuals navigate complex psychological issues and live more fulfilling lives. As a recognized contributor to the field of psychology, my articles have been published in esteemed Indian news forums, such as The Hindu, The Times of India, and Punjab Kesari. I am grateful for the opportunity to have been honored by the Government of Israel for my contributions to the Psychological Assistance Program. I remain committed to advancing our understanding of psychology and its applications through my ongoing research, which can be found on leading online libraries such as Science Direct, Wiley, Elsevier, Orcid, Google Scholar, and loop Frontiers. I am also an active contributor to Quora, where I share my insights on various psychological issues. Overall, I see myself as a lifelong student of psychology, constantly learning and growing from my patients, colleagues, and peers. I consider it a great privilege to have the opportunity to serve others in this field and to contribute to our collective understanding of the human mind and behavior.

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Commentary: Cultural Appropriation Is, In Fact, Indefensible

K. Tempest Bradford

Elvis Presley, in the studio in 1956 — Presley's success was undoubtedly driven by the material he appropriated from black musicians. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images hide caption

Elvis Presley, in the studio in 1956 — Presley's success was undoubtedly driven by the material he appropriated from black musicians.

Last week, the New York Times published an op-ed titled "In Defense of Cultural Appropriation" in which writer Kenan Malik attempted to extol the virtues of artistic appropriation and chastise those who would stand in the way of necessary "cultural engagement." (No link, because you have Google and I'd rather not give that piece more traffic than it deserves.) What would have happened, he argues, had Elvis Presley not been able to swipe the sounds of black musicians?

Malik is not the first person to defend cultural appropriation. He joins a long list that, most recently, has included prominent members of the Canadian literary community and author Lionel Shriver.

But the truth is that cultural appropriation is indefensible. Those who defend it either don't understand what it is, misrepresent it to muddy the conversation, or ignore its complexity — discarding any nuances and making it easy to dismiss both appropriation and those who object to it.

At the start of the most recent debate , Canadian author Hal Niedzviecki called on the readers of Write magazine to "Write what you don't know ... Relentlessly explore the lives of people who aren't like you. ... Win the Appropriation Prize." Amid the outcry over this editorial, there were those who wondered why this statement would be objectionable. Shouldn't authors "write the Other?" Shouldn't there be more representative fiction?

Yes, of course. The issue here is that Niedzviecki conflated cultural appropriation and the practice of writing characters with very different identities from yourself — and they're not the same thing. Writing inclusive fiction might involve appropriation if it's done badly, but that's not a given.

Cultural appropriation can feel hard to get a handle on, because boiling it down to a two-sentence dictionary definition does no one any favors. Writer Maisha Z. Johnson offers an excellent starting point by describing it not only as the act of an individual, but an individual working within a " power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture take elements from a culture of people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group ."

That's why appropriation and exchange are two different things, Johnson says — there's no power imbalance involved in an exchange. And when artists appropriate, they can profit from what they take, while the oppressed group gets nothing.

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Dear white artists making music videos in india: step away from the 'holi' powder, author lionel shriver on cultural appropriation and the 'sensitivity police'.

I teach classes and seminars alongside author and editor Nisi Shawl on Writing the Other , and the foundation of our work is that authors should create characters from many different races, cultures, class backgrounds, physical abilities, and genders, even if — especially if — these don't match their own. We are not alone in this. You won't find many people advising authors to only create characters similar to themselves. You will find many who say: Don't write characters from minority or marginalized identities if you are not going to put in the hard work to do it well and avoid cultural appropriation and other harmful outcomes. These are different messages. But writers often see or hear the latter and imagine that it means the former. And editorials like Niedzviecki's don't help the matter.

Complicating things even further, those who tend to see appropriation as exchange are often the ones who profit from it.

Even Malik's example involving rock and roll isn't as simple as Elvis "stealing" from black artists. Before he even came along, systematic oppression and segregation in America meant black musicians didn't have access to the same opportunities for mainstream exposure, income, or success as white ones. Elvis and other rock and roll musicians were undoubtedly influenced by black innovators, but over time the genre came to be regarded as a cultural product created, perfected by, and only accessible to whites .

This is the "messy interaction" Malik breezes over in dismissing the idea of appropriation as theft: A repeating pattern that's recognizable across many different cultural spheres, from fashion and the arts to literature and food.

And this pattern is why cultures and people who've suffered the most from appropriation sometimes insist on their traditions being treated like intellectual property — it can seem like the only way to protect themselves and to force members of dominant or oppressive cultures to consider the impact of their actions.

This has lead to accusations of gatekeeping by Malik and others: Who has the right to decide what is appropriation and what isn't ? What does true cultural exchange look like? There's no one easy answer to either question.

But there are some helpful guidelines: The Australian Council for the Arts developed a set of protocols for working with Indigenous artists that lays out how to approach Aboriginal culture as a respectful guest, who to contact for guidance and permission, and how to proceed with your art if that permission is not granted. Some of these protocols are specific to Australia, but the key to all of them is finding ways for creativity to flourish while also reducing harm.

All of this lies at the root of why cultural appropriation is indefensible. It is, without question, harmful. It is not inherent to writing representational and inclusive fiction, it is not a process of equal and mutually beneficial exchange, and it is not a way for one culture to honor another. Cultural appropriation does damage, and it should be something writers and other artists work hard to avoid, not compete with each other to achieve.

For those who are willing to do that hard work, there are resources out there. When I lecture about this, I ask writers to consider whether they are acting as Invaders, Tourists, or Guests, according to the excellent framework Nisi Shawl lays out in her essay on appropriation . And then I point them towards all the articles and blog posts I've collected over time on the subject of cultural appropriation , to give them as full a background in understanding, identifying, and avoiding it as I possibly can.

Because I believe that, instead of giving people excuses for why appropriation can't be avoided (it can), or allowing them to think it's no big deal (it is), it's more important to help them become better artists whose creations contribute to cultural understanding and growth that benefits us all.

K. Tempest Bradford is a speculative fiction author, media critic, teacher, and podcaster. She teaches and lectures about writing inclusive fiction online and in person via WritingTheOther.com .

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Article Contents

An overview of violence experienced by indigenous peoples, historical oppression and historical trauma, a framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence, the framework of historical oppression and resilience and resistance as applied to violence against indigenous women, future directions, applications, and implications for social work.

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Historical Oppression, Resilience, and Transcendence: Can a Holistic Framework Help Explain Violence Experienced by Indigenous People?

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Catherine Elizabeth Burnette, Charles R. Figley, Historical Oppression, Resilience, and Transcendence: Can a Holistic Framework Help Explain Violence Experienced by Indigenous People?, Social Work , Volume 62, Issue 1, 1 January 2017, Pages 37–44, https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/sww065

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Although all minorities experience inequalities, indigenous peoples in the United States tend to experience the most severe violent victimization. Until now, an organizing framework to explain or address the disproportionate rates of violent victimization was absent. Thus, the purpose of this conceptual article is to (a) introduce the concept of historical oppression, expanding the concept of historical trauma to make it inclusive of contemporary oppression; (b) describe the framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence, which draws from distinct but related theoretical frameworks (that is, critical theory and resilience theory); and (c) apply the framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence to the problem of violence against indigenous women. The proposed framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence prioritizes social justice and strengths; it provides a culturally relevant framework, which can be used to explain, predict, and prevent violence. The article concludes with recommendations for future research, implications for practice, and recommended applications to other problems and populations.

To provide a culturally relevant framework to explain, predict, and prevent violence experienced by indigenous peoples, this article will (a) introduce the concept of historical oppression, expanding the concept of historical trauma to make it inclusive of contemporary oppression; (b) describe the framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence, which draws from distinct but related theoretical frameworks (that is, critical theory and resilience theory); and (c) apply the framework of historical oppzression, resilience, and transcendence to the problem of violence against indigenous women by synthesizing extant research, which works from this framework. Although all minorities experience inequalities, indigenous peoples of the United States, to whom the scope of this article is limited, tend to experience the most severe violent victimization ( Black et al., 2011 ).

Indigenous peoples is a term used to describe the diverse groups thought to be earliest inhabitants of a country and who share the history of being affected by colonization. The United States is home to 567 federally recognized tribes ( Bureau of Indian Affairs [BIA], 2016 ), 66 state-recognized tribes ( National Conference of State Legislatures, 2015 ), and around 400 tribes that exist outside either jurisdiction ( U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2012 ). Thus, diverse membership and distinct trust relationships, based on treaty agreements with politically sovereign federally recognized tribes, warrants examining indigenous disparities separately from other ethnic minorities ( BIA, 2016 ).

The issue of disproportionate rates of violence experienced by indigenous peoples has drawn national attention ( Black et al., 2011 ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2013 ). Results of the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey ( Black et al., 2011 ) indicated that 46 percent of indigenous (for the purpose of this study, that is, American Indian and Alaska Native) women have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) (that is, rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner), compared with 43.7 percent of non-Hispanic black women, 34.6 percent of non-Hispanic white women, 37.1 percent of Hispanic women, and 53.8 percent of women identifying as multiracial non-Hispanic. Similarly, indigenous men experience the highest rates of IPV (45.3 percent), in comparison with black men (38.6 percent), non-Hispanic men (39.3 percent), Hispanic men (26.6 percent), and non-Hispanic white men (28.2 percent) ( Black et al., 2011 ). Although IPV rates for both men and women are high, women tend to disproportionately suffer negative impacts from IPV, indicating the intersectionality and cumulative disadvantage of being female and minority ( Black et al., 2011 ). For example, approximately 60 percent of women versus 17 percent of men who report IPV report feeling unsafe from the violence and approximately 81 percent of women versus approximately 35 percent of men report a negative impact from IPV experiences ( Black et al., 2011 ).

Despite over five centuries of inequities against indigenous peoples since European American colonization began, there has been no organizing framework to explain or address such disparities ( Jones, 2006 ). This absence severely limits the ability to accurately explain, predict, and prevent these disparities. Likewise, the disproportionate rates of violence and health disparities experienced by indigenous people can overshadow the remarkable resilience and transcendence of oppression that have been demonstrated; moreover, there are concerns about the scarcity of research on protective factors relating to violence and health disparities ( Barney, 2001 ; Brownridge, 2008 ). This problem focus can marginalize already oppressed groups ( Waller, 2001 ) and overlook the deep strengths of indigenous communities, families, and individuals, which have sustained them for centuries.

In this article, we propose a framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence. The contributions of this framework are (a) expansion of a framework used with indigenous peoples (that is, historical trauma); (b) application of frameworks that are relevant but not yet adapted for indigenous people in the United States who have experienced violence (that is, the work of Paulo Freire); (c) delineation of a holistic theoretical framework, synthesizing relevant frameworks that have not been integrated (that is, critical theory and resilience theory); and (d) application of the explicated framework to the problem of violence against indigenous women. The resulting framework focuses on strengths and situates social problems experienced by indigenous peoples in their structural and historical causes ( Burnette, 2015c ).

The concept of historical oppression expands on historical trauma , a concept that includes the cumulative, massive, and chronic trauma imposed on a group across generations and within the life course ( Brave Heart & DeBruyn, 1998 ; Duran, Duran, Brave Heart, & Yellow Horse-Davis, 1998 ). Unlike historical trauma, historical oppression includes both historical and contemporary forms of oppression. Historical oppression describes the chronic, pervasive, and intergenerational experiences of oppression that, over time, may be normalized, imposed, and internalized into the daily lives of many indigenous people (including individuals, families, and communities) ( Burnette, 2015a , 2015c ). Although historical oppession is inclusive of historical traumas, it is distinct in that it is localized to specific contexts and is inclusive of the proximal factors that continue to perpetuate oppression, including discrimination, microaggressions (that is, everyday injustices and demeaning messages that marginalized populations experience) ( Walters & Simoni, 2009 ), poverty, and marginalization ( Burnette, 2015c ).

Examples of historical traumas inflicted on indigenous peoples include land dispossession, death of the majority of the populations through warfare and disease, forced removal and relocation, assimilative boarding school experiences, and prohibiting religious practices, among others ( Evans-Campbell, 2008 ; Harper & Entrekin, 2006 ). As a result of historical traumas, indigenous peoples have experienced historical losses, which included the loss of land, traditional and spiritual ways, self-respect from poor treatment from government officials, language, family ties, trust from broken treaties, culture, and people (through early death); there are also losses that can be attributed to increased alcoholism ( Whitbeck, Adams, Hoyt, & Chen, 2004 ). These losses have been associated with sadness and depression, anger, intrusive thoughts, discomfort, shame, fear, and distrust around white people ( Whitbeck et al., 2004 ). Experiencing massive traumas and losses is thought to lead to cumulative and unresolved grief, which can result in the historical trauma response , which includes suicidal thoughts and acts, IPV, depression, alcoholism, self-destructive behavior, low self-esteem, anxiety, anger, and lowered emotional expression and recognition ( Brave Heart & DeBruyn, 1998 ; Duran et al., 1998 ). These symptoms run parallel to the extant health disparities that are documented among indigenous peoples.

Walters et al. (2011) and others ( Gone, 2013 ) have emphasized the need for greater delineation and explication of historical trauma for it to predict and explain social problems among indigenous Americans. Historical trauma, encompassing massive traumatic events, does not fully explicate the pervasive and chronic oppression that indigenous populations continue to experience, such as disrupted cultural patterns, economic inequality, and disjunction between traditional and mainstream life ways ( Kirmayer, Gone, & Moses, 2014 ). Others have noted the challenges related to documenting empirical support for the concept of historical trauma ( Walters et al., 2011 ), including the methodological problems in connecting historically distant events to contemporary problems, despite their undoubted effects ( Burnette, 2015c ). Finally, the historical trauma response is proposed as the psychological result of experiencing historical traumas, but the consequences of historical trauma undoubtedly transcend psychological ramifications to affect entire ethnic groups, communities, and families. Thus, it is important to explore these ripple effects. The focus now shifts to the proposed framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence, which expands on the concept of historical trauma by incorporating contemporary and chronic forms of oppression and integrating an ecosystemic theory of resilience and transcendence.

Cross (1998) recommended characterizing indigenous resilience from a relational worldview, emphasizing the interrelatedness and harmony of the mind, body, context, and spiritual aspects of all things. Thus, the framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence uses an ecosystemic perspective, which enables the examination of the interactions and interconnections among risk and protective factors, which are on a continuum rather than being static categories and occur across individual, couple, familial, community, cultural, and societal levels ( Masten & Monn, 2015 ; Waller, 2001 ). This perspective views resilience as a multidetermined and constantly changing result of people's interactions with the environment ( Masten & Monn, 2015 ; Waller, 2001 ).

Risk and Protective Factors in an Ecosystemic Framework of Historical Oppression, Resilience, and Transcendence

Consistent with Cross's (1998) relational worldview, the framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence adopts an ecosystemic perspective on indigenous-related resilience, which emphasizes the interrelatedness and harmony of the mind, body, context, and spiritual aspects of all things. According to this framework, the interaction, accumulation, interconnections, and balance of risk and protective factors across multiple levels predict whether a person experiences wellness after experiencing IPV (see Figure 1 ). This perspective is culturally congruent with indigenous peoples’ holistic view of interconnections between physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health ( Cross, 1998 ; West et al., 2012 ).

Historical Oppression

The conceptualization of historical oppression is derived from critical theory, which examines the power dynamics that tend to impose and perpetuate inequality and oppression ( Guba & Lincoln, 2004 ; Kincheloe & McLaren, 2005 ; Morrow & Brown, 1994 ). Although the work of Paulo Freire (2000) originally focused on his experiences in Brazil, he developed a useful perspective that can be applied to today's indigenous peoples, because it focuses on how colonial and historical oppression becomes embodied (that is, through internalized oppression) and self-perpetuating (that is, through horizontal violence and sub-oppression) ( Burnette, 2015a , 2015c ).

Freire's (2000) main assumption was that people desire for humanization , or freedom, yet often experience violence, oppression, and dehumanization , which is considered a limitation on freedom through exploitation and injustice. Freire (2000) suggested that mechanisms of dehumanization include (a) the oppressor imposing choices and values through prescription , the limiting the freedom of those with less power; (b) efforts to dominate and exploit others, which are intergenerationally transmitted; and (c) a possessive consciousness, “possessive of the world and of men and women” (p. 58).

Freire (2000) suggested that social problems emerge after centuries of experiencing chronic oppression, when people may feel resigned and helpless to effect change; this may lead people to be silenced, mistrustful, and understandably insecure. Similarly, when people are chronically and insidiously marginalized and feel that they lack the power to change the restrictive situation, there is a tendency to strike out at those of equal or less power (for example, women and children) through horizontal violence or to escape through substance use ( Freire, 2000 ). This can explain how and why recipients of oppression may oppress fellow group members. Freire (2000) normalized sub-oppression as a common component of the initial stage of liberation from oppression, for there can be a certain adherence to the oppressor due to the desire for their wealth and status. Experiencing chronic oppression can also lead to the internalization of the oppressor, with the recipients of oppression inadvertently adopting the oppressor's dehumanizing beliefs and behaviors.

Thus, those with less power may emulate the oppressor in hopes of attaining power or preventing backlash. For example, if men in indigenous communities internalize the patriarchal, hegemonic, and sexist gender norms introduced through colonization, IPV will increase; indeed, as studies of men across ethnicities demonstrate, such beliefs increase risk for IPV ( McDermott & Lopez, 2013 ; Tager, Good, & Brammer, 2010 ). It follows that leaders may become sub-oppressors, and oppressions may be perpetuated across generations with minimal external manipulation.

Resilience and Resistance

Nevertheless, humanization and transcendence are not only possible, but are a historic reality ( Freire, 2000 ). Dehumanization eventually leads to transcendence in those who experience oppression but seek liberation ( Freire, 2000 ). To overcome oppression, people must identify its causes and create a situation with fuller humanity, without resorting to oppressive tactics ( Freire, 2000 ). This activity involves praxis , reflection and critical dialogue about causes of dehumanization coupled with social action to change these structural inequalities ( Freire, 2000 ). Although those with more power may join them in solidarity in their fight for liberation, it is the job of those who experience oppression to seek emancipation ( Freire, 2000 ). Although Freire described liberation as a challenging process, he predicted decolonization through expelling the oppressor's mentality by replacing it with responsibility, autonomy, and the strengths present prior to colonization ( Freire, 2000 ; Walters & Simoni, 2009 ).

As Freire (2000) predicted, indigenous peoples have not been merely passive recipients of historical traumas, but rather have been resisting oppression and demonstrating “survivance” (a term coined by Vizenor, 2008 ) and resilience throughout history. Survivance includes the ingenuity indigenous peoples have continuously demonstrated despite the adversity imposed by colonization, such as a commitment to their homeland, strength of spirit, and humor ( Vizenor, 2008 ).

Centuries of historical oppression have seriously constrained indigenous peoples, but the constraint has also provided the opportunity to develop ingenious skills to resist and transcend oppression ( Robbins, Robbins, & Stennerson, 2013 ), sharpening resilience ( Cross, 1998 ). Resilience includes the ability to positively adapt despite experiencing adversity ( Greene, 2009 ). Risk factors increase or worsen negative outcomes, whereas protective factors buffer against problems (for example, IPV and health disparities) and strengthen positive outcomes ( Masten & Monn, 2015 ; Waller, 2001 ). Resilience can be assessed at individual, familial, community, and cultural levels. Resistance acknowledges the continuous efforts made by indigenous peoples to respond to and transcend historical oppression.

This section synthesizes research from a critical ethnography with 29 indigenous women who have experienced violence and 20 professionals who work with those who experience violence. Because the scope of this article is explicating how results apply to the framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence, the details of this critical ethnography may be located within each respective reference.

An ecosystemic framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence examines the risk and protective factors across societal, cultural, community, partner, and individual levels. The focus now turns to emergent risk and protective factors, which are thought to give rise to IPV and impair recovery from such violence.

Societal-Level Factors

When applied to violence against indigenous women, risk factors at the societal level have included historical oppression, namely colonial tactics of dehumanization ( Burnette, 2015d ). Such tactics include (a) cultural invasion (decades of warfare and cultural disruption brought on through colonization); (b) fragmenting indigenous communities against each other and introducing adversarial gender roles to replace indigenous complementary and egalitarian gender roles; (c) replacing indigenous belief systems about women with patriarchal and dehumanizing beliefs; and (d) manipulation (that is, selecting leaders to engage in sub-oppression by offering them greater resources) ( Burnette, 2015d ). A clear history of historical oppression impaired the respect and status of indigenous women, giving rise to greater rates of IPV ( Burnette, 2015d ). These tactics undermined but did not eradicate the societal protective factors of spirituality, cooperation, unity, organization, and cultural synthesis (that is, the capacity of culture for decolonization and liberation) still present in indigenous communities at present ( Burnette, 2015d ).

Community and Cultural Factors

Historical oppression did not stop with initial colonial efforts, but rather has persisted into contemporary times. Forms of historical oppression are localized and context specific. Contemporary experiences of oppression reported by this southeastern indigenous sample included, for example, sharecropping, attending assimilative boarding schools, and insidious experiences of discrimination, which led to losses in the forms of cultural traditions and lives, through early death ( Burnette, 2015c ). In fact, 60 percent of indigenous women who experienced IPV had lost a parent by the age of 18 ( Burnette, 2015c ). Moreover, cultural disruption continues to occur through widespread exposure to mainstream media influences and the imposition of prescriptive ( Freire, 2000 ) policies, prioritizing Western service structures ( Burnette, 2015c ). In many ways, these service structures have clashed and competed with indigenous worldviews, which are thought to be protective for indigenous women ( Burnette, 2015c ).

Just as Freire (2000) proposed, experiences of discrimination and historical oppression have led community members to feel mistrustful of the general population and its services, causing them to remain silent about problems such as IPV ( Burnette, 2015c ). This silence and mistrust may have been an important survival and coping response to dangerous experiences of violence, injustice, and historical oppression over time ( Burnette, 2015c ). However, when silence is generalized to families, it may inadvertently enable family violence and pose as a barrier to help seeking and recovery from violence ( Burnette, 2015c ). Thus, coping mechanisms developed in response to historical oppression may have unintentional negative effects when generalized to individuals, families, and communities, perpetuating the problems introduced by historical oppression (for example, violence).

Weaver (2009) explained how dehumanizing beliefs about women have been internalized into indigenous communities, and, indeed, community members have described how IPV has been normalized ( Burnette, 2015c ; Burnette & Hefflinger , 2016 ; Freire, 2000 ; Weaver, 2009 ). These dehumanizing values and beliefs about women, introduced by colonization and perpetuated in a patriarchal context, made it difficult for women to leave violent relationships ( Burnette, 2015c ). Community members could blame women for being or remaining in violence situations, and IPV relationships tended to conform to the possessive ideology proposed by Freire (2000) (also see Burnette, 2015c ). Moreover, during European settlement, colonial missionaries imposed exclusive Christian patriarchal beliefs, which have been found to be a disincentive for women to leave violent relationships ( Burnette & Hefflinger, in press ; Knickmeyer, Levitt, & Horne, 2010 ; Sharp, 2009 ); thus, the indigenous spiritual beliefs that held women sacred were disrupted and impaired, as was the social fabric that kept them safe.

Moreover, just as Freire (2000) exposed the colonial tactic of dividing the unity of communities, indigenous community members have commented on divisions within the community along age, income, and educational lines ( Burnette & Hefflinger , 2016 ). Related to sub-oppression, many communities perceive inequality, which has disrupted the social and community support needed to overcoming IPV ( Burnette & Hefflinger , 2016 ). Other barriers to effective community services for IPV include complexities related to dual relationships, challenges related to confidentiality in tight-knit communities, a lack of accountability, impunity for perpetrators, delayed responses, and inconsistent service responses ( Burnette, 2015b ).

Despite these cultural and community risk factors related to historical oppression, ample protective factors were also evident in the forms of enculturation (that is, learning about and identifying with indigenous culture) related to spirituality, language, traditions, cultural practices, and celebrations, which could connect indigenous women with protective indigenous values ( Burnette, 2016a ). Likewise the presence of tribally run services for IPV were promising community protective factors that many indigenous communities do not enjoy.

Family-Level Factors

The protective factor of enculturation was primarily transmitted through one of the most promising protective factors related to violence against indigenous women: families ( Burnette, 2016a ). Given aforementioned challenges with formal services, indigenous women tend to rely on informal support systems, which is primarily comprised of family and extended family, which tend to be tight-knit, supportive, and affirming and provide the wisdom of elders and role models ( Burnette, 2016a ). These factors tend to protect women against the effects of IPV and enable them to leave violent relationships earlier. On the other end of this continuum, families with poor communication, parental substance abuse, mental health challenges, impaired parent–child bonds, absent parents, and families exhibiting intergenerational patterns of these impairments could pose risk factors for women who experienced IPV ( Burnette, 2016b ). Indeed, just as division was a prominent colonial tactic appearing at societal and community levels, family division also characterizes such families ( Burnette, 2016b ).

Relational and Individual Factors

At the couple or relational level, having a supportive partner post-abuse was protective ( Burnette & Hefflinger, in press ), whereas emotionally and physically violent partners who demonstrated dehumanizing tactics, such as dominating, manipulating, using threats, using children, being controlling, following rigid patriarchal gender roles, using substances, and demonstrating jealousy and insecurity were relational risk factors ( Burnette, 2015a ). The latter factors paralleled Freire's (2000) assumptions of insecurity being a result of historical oppression along with the dehumanizing tactics present in colonization, such as domination, manipulation, conquest, and division ( Burnette, 2015a ).

Finally, at the individual level, experiencing child maltreatment, adverse childhood experiences, and teenage pregnancy were emergent risk factors ( Burnette & Renner, 2016 ), whereas women demonstrated strongly protective traits to cope with and overcome violence, such as (a) being educationally oriented; (b) demonstrating affirming talents, abilities, self-sufficiency, and inner strength; (c) coping by helping others and expressing emotions; and (d) having faith, optimism, and resilience perspectives, such as learning and seeing growth from adversity ( Burnette & Hefflinger , in press). Interestingly, colonial dehumanizing tactics not only had emerged at the societal levels, but as Weaver (2009) predicted, had been internalized at the community, family, and couple levels as well.

As indicated, emergent risk and protective factors, which occur along a continuum, have been identified related to violence against indigenous women, and themes related to historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence were apparent across societal, community, cultural, familial, partner, and individual levels. Although not all indigenous populations experienced the same forms of historical oppression, the majority have experienced oppression and related losses, giving rise to greater social problems. However, resilience and liberating efforts can easily be located and built on. Educators, researchers, and practitioners can use such a framework—in whole or in part—to situate social problems in a historical context and locate culturally specific risk and protective factors at the societal, community, family, partner, and individual levels to build on strengths and develop culturally relevant interventions. This framework can serve as a tool to take a holistic account of problems within their historical context and address risk factors across multiple levels.

Although this framework was applied to violence against indigenous women, a promising area for future research would be to apply this framework to other social problems, such as health disparities experienced by indigenous populations and populations experiencing historical oppression based on other dimensions of diversity. Because the framework includes an examination and incorporation of strengths and resilience, pathways to liberation and recovery are integrated. Finally, other theoretical frameworks, such as historical trauma, social learning theory, and life course theory, among others, can easily supplement and be used in conjunction with this framework. The framework suggests that building resilience in the face of historical oppression and making incremental improvements leads to wellness. The byproduct of increasing resilience in response to historical oppression is realizing humankind's historical “vocation” of becoming more fully human ( Freire, 2000 ).

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Blog / Diversity and Equity

Tools for social change: the five faces of oppression, we see the work of ending educational inequity as being about dismantling systems of oppression..

When you think of the term “systems of oppression” what words or images come to mind?

For me, it’s an image and a feeling of being held back—unable to break away. It’s unequal pay for women, disproportionate numbers of Black and Brown students suspended from schools, and limited access to healthy, affordable food in my community. And so much else.

In working on issues of equity in our schools and communities, it's critical that you can identify the multiple ways in which oppression shows up or persists for students, communities, and ourselves, and begin to identify how you can take action to interrupt or change this. We can only identify how power plays out when we are conscious and committed to understanding racism, sexism, classism, ableism, heterosexism and all other systems of oppression that affect each one of us.

Once we understand how oppression is showing up, we can better identify actions we can take to interrupt or combat it. There are many ways to define oppression, and the purpose of this framework is to serve as a lens to help determine how oppression may be happening in any given space.

In Justice and the Politics of Difference (1990), feminist and political theorist Iris Marion Young explains:

“In its traditional usage, oppression means the exercise of tyranny by a ruling group...In its new usage oppression designates the disadvantage and injustice some people suffer not because a tyrannical power coerces them, but because of the everyday practices of a well-intentioned liberal society...Oppression in this sense is structural, rather than the result of a few people’s choices or policies. Its causes are embedded in unquestioned norms, habits, and symbols, in the assumptions underlying institutional rules and the collective consequences of following those rules.”

At LEE, we define oppression as a system that maintains advantage and disadvantage based on social group memberships, and operates, intentionally and unintentionally, on individual, institutional, and cultural levels.

Young’s essay, “Five Faces of Oppression,” provides a framework with categories for the various types of oppression. Let’s take a look at these categories and how they are showing up in today’s society:

Exploitation

Refers to the act of using people’s labors to produce profit, while not compensating them fairly. This form of oppression perpetuates that there are “haves” and “have nots.”

Research reveals a pay gap for LGBTQ workers and the cost of exclusion [FastCompany]

“The wage gaps that exist between men and women and between white and black people have received a lot of attention in recent years. But there’s another wage gap that tends to be overlooked—between heterosexuals and LGBT+ people.”

Marginalization

This is the act of relegating or confining a group of people to a lower social standing or outer limit or edge of society (i.e. exclusion).

Tennessee Gov. Lee Signs Anti-Transgender ‘Business Bathroom Bill’ into Law [The Human Rights Campaign]

“Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed House Bill 1182 (SB 1224) into law, a discriminatory bill that aims to prevent transgender people from using restrooms aligning with their gender identity by requiring businesses with “formal or informal” policies of allowing transgender people to use the appropriate restroom to post offensive and humiliating signage.”

The playing field: Anti-trans bills purport to address “fairness” in sports. But sports have never been fair. [Vox]

“The law will bar trans students attending public schools in the state from participating in sports according to their gender identity and mandate that they do so according only to their gender assigned at birth.”

Powerlessness

This form of oppression refers to how some in a society are relegated to be powerless and are dominated by “the ruling class.” They are situated to take orders and rarely have the right to give them.

How Florida’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout is leaving essential farmworkers behind [PBS NewsHour]

“Florida opened up access to the COVID-19 vaccine to all adult residents on April 5. But the stringent proof of residency requirement has created a significant obstacle for undocumented workers, many of whom hold seasonal agriculture or food industry jobs and have helped keep Florida’s economy afloat during the past year.” Read more

Cultural Imperialism

This is the taking of culture by the “ruling class” and establishing it as the norm , defining other groups as deviant and/or inferior.

Businesses Are Victims of Gentrification, Too [Bloomberg CityLab]

“Before the pandemic, small businesses in gentrifying neighborhoods in U.S. cities like Oakland, Miami and Washington, D.C., faced many of the same pressures as residents. Black and Latinx businesses were at particularly high risk of displacement and closure, as their traditional clientele were pushed out of the neighborhood, and residents with different tastes and preferences moved in, along with large chain stores with which small businesses had to compete.” Read more

This form of oppression looks like when members of some groups live with the knowledge that they must fear random, unprovoked attacks on their persons or property.

Man Arrested In San Francisco Stabbing Of 2 Asian Women [NPR]

“Two older Asian women were stabbed on Tuesday while waiting for a bus in downtown San Francisco, authorities said. The attack occurred amid a spate of anti-Asian violence in the country since the start of the pandemic.” Read more

What stood out to you while reading through these faces of oppression? What can you imagine/do you know to be the real impact on people?
How do the five faces of oppression show up in your community? What are some of the ways you have/have seen others interrupt a form of oppression in your school or community?
How might this be used in helping you understand dynamics of oppression and build strategies for changes individually or with others?

Now more than ever is the time to take a stand against oppression and create systemic change.

Most Recent

The important role women play in civic leadership, impact makers: women of lee, 6 ways to uplift the black community, discovering impact: indigenous lee members driving change in south dakota, the lumbee native americans in baltimore: a story of resilience and identity.

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P. O. D. S.

What is p rivilege, o ppression, d iversity and s ocial justice.

This acronym of P.O.D.S. and the concepts of privilege, oppression, diversity and social justice, provide us with a framework for keeping justice at the center of our work. P.O.D.S. helps us in developing a vision for justice and it recognizes and reduces mechanisms that support oppression and injustice. A focus on P.O.D.S. can also help us identify theories and policies that promote social justice and eliminate injustice.

Types of advantages or unearned access that are granted based on how we are identified in terms of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, sexuality and ability status. Privileged groups often hold characteristics that are considered by dominant culture to be more socially acceptable or most valued, they tend to be seen as the norm. Considering privilege — where it exists and where it doesn't — helps us understand the context in which people are engaging with the world.

Can be thought of as the social act of placing severe restrictions on an individual, a group or an institution. Oppression occurs at all levels and is reinforced by social norms, institutional biases, interpersonal relationships and personal beliefs. Political theorist Iris Young created a model called The Five Faces of Oppression , which includes violence, exploitation, marginalism, powerlessness and cultural imperialism.

Encompasses the wide range of identities including (but certainly not limited to) race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, ability, language, culture, national origin, religion, age and political perspective. Diversity speaks to how we interact with different mixes of people and identities different from our own. We know that diverse groups of people make more well-informed decisions by including different points of view and creating more opportunities for more people. We also know those benefits don't occur if people feel they need to suppress some area of their identity. Diversity is about valuing the range of experiences and perspectives.

A key concept in understanding diversity is intersectionality, which describes how different identities such as race, class, gender and other individual characteristics overlap and interact with one another. Intersectionality demonstrates the complexity within our social systems and how individuals can face multiple intersections of oppression and discrimination.

Social Justice

The belief that everyone deserves equal economic, political and social rights, opportunity, and access. Social justice requires equity, fairness, and respect for diversity, as well as the eradication of social oppression. Achieving social justice can be seen as the core of social work practice, and informs all we do.

How is P.O.D.S. applied at the School of Social Work?

For more than 20 years, the exploration of these concepts has been a foundation of a University of Michigan School of Social Work education. In the revised 2020 curriculum, P.O.D.S. is integrated into every course, helping us strengthen our focus on justice and critical consciousness.

P.O.D.S is at the crux of all we do. It provides the Michigan Social Work community with a shared language and a platform to discuss these issues as a community. It provides a metric for students to use in their own practice. By centering justice at the core of our work, we allow justice to become the lens through which all our goals are viewed.

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Beyond Intractability

The Hyper-Polarization Challenge to the Conflict Resolution Field We invite you to participate in an online exploration of what those with conflict and peacebuilding expertise can do to help defend liberal democracies and encourage them live up to their ideals.

Follow BI and the Hyper-Polarization Discussion on BI's New Substack Newsletter .

Hyper-Polarization, COVID, Racism, and the Constructive Conflict Initiative Read about (and contribute to) the Constructive Conflict Initiative and its associated Blog —our effort to assemble what we collectively know about how to move beyond our hyperpolarized politics and start solving society's problems.

By Morton Deutsch

March 2005 with "Current Implications" by Heidi Burgess added in July 2020.

Current Implications

At first glance, it would seem that this is the one essay in Deutsch's Oppression Series that does not apply to the situation in the summer of 2020. People seem plenty "awake" to the problem of oppression of Blacks. What is interesting to contemplate is why the death of George Floyd has caused such an awakening, whereas the hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of past deaths did not. One answer, clearly it seems, is that the event was videoed and the video went viral on social media (something that is only recently become possible). That made millions of people around the world almost instantly aware of the event. In addition, it was particularly gruesome and heartless. How could anyone, with any sense of decency or morality, view the behavior of the police officers involved the as legitimate? So it made the awakening in this instance pretty easy. More...

This post is also part of the

exploration of the tough challenges posed by the
.

In this essay, I shall consider the sensitivity to injustice in the victim and the victimizer. Awareness of injustice is a precondition for overcoming it.

The Differential Sensitivity to Injustice of the Victim and the Victimizer

Although it may be morally better "to be sinned against than to sin," it is generally accepted that the immediate pain is usually greater for the one who is sinned against than for the sinner. As I have indicated in earlier essays, the victimizers -- in addition to their gains from their exploitative actions -- commonly have the reassurance of the official definitions of justice and the support of such major institutions as the church, the press, and the schools to deaden their sensitivities to the injustices inherent in their relations with the victim. The victim may, of course, be taken in by the official definitions and the indoctrination emanating from social institutions and, as a result, lose his sensitivity to injustice. However, since he is the one who is experiencing the negative consequences of the injustice, he is also less likely to feel committed to the official definitions and indoctrinations, especially because of his lack of participation in creating them.

The explanation of the differential sensitivity in terms of differential gains and differential power is not the complete story. There are, of course, relations in which the victimizer is not of superior power, and yet, even so, he will not experience guilt for his actions. Consider a traffic accident in which a car hits a pedestrian. The driver of the car will usually perceive the accident so as to place responsibility for it upon the victim. Seeing the victim as responsible will enable the driver to maintain a positive image of himself. Projecting the blame on the victim enables the victimizer to feel blameless.

If we accept the notion that most people try to maintain a positive conception of themselves, we can expect a differential sensitivity to injustice in those who experience pain, harm, or misfortune and those who cause it. If I try to think well of myself, I shall minimize my responsibility for any injustice that is connected with me or minimize the amount of injustice that has occurred if I cannot minimize my responsibility. On the other hand, if I am the victim of pain and harm, to think well of myself, it is necessary for me to believe that it was not my due: it is not a just dessert for a person of my good character. Thus, the need to maintain positive self-esteem leads to opposite reactions in those who have caused an injustice and those who suffer from it.

Although the need to maintain a positive self-regard is common, it is not universal. The victim of injustice, if he views himself favorably, may be outraged by his experience and attempt to undo it; in the process of so doing, he may have to challenge the victimizer. If the victimizer is more powerful and has the support of the legal and other institutions of the society, the victim will realize that it would be dangerous to act on his outrage or even to express it. Under such circumstances, in a process that Anna Freud labeled "identification with the aggressor," the victim may control his dangerous feelings of injustice by denying them and by internalizing the derogatory attitudes of the victimizer toward himself.[1]

Conditions that Awaken and Intensify the Sensitivity to Injustice

In the preceding, I have suggested that the sense of injustice may be minimal in the oppressors and also in the oppressed under certain circumstances. Here, I wish to consider the conditions that awaken and intensify the sensitivity to injustice. The major explanatory theme advanced by social scientists for the sensitivity to injustice is that of relative deprivation : the perceived discrepancy between what a person believes she is entitled to and what she obtains regarding the different forms of justice : distributive , procedural , retributive , moral inclusion, and cultural imperialism. It is commonly assumed that it is relative, rather than absolute, deprivation that is critical in stimulating dissatisfaction. Research has demonstrated that people who are well off by absolute standards may feel more discontent than those who are much worse off, if they feel relatively more deprived because their aspirations are high or they are surrounded by people who are even more well-off than they are.[2]

Runciman has made a distinction between two types of relative deprivation: egoistic and fraternal.[3] Egoistical deprivation occurs when an individual feels disadvantaged relative to other individuals; fraternal deprivation occurs when a person feels his group is disadvantaged in relation to another group. An individual may feel doubly deprived: as an individual and as a group member. As Tajfel has pointed out, the two kinds of deprivations have different implications for how an individual may improve his situation.[4] To remedy fraternal deprivation, social change (change in the position of one's group) is necessary; to remedy egoistic deprivation, only change in one's individual situation is entailed.

The greater the magnitude of relative deprivation, the greater the sense of injustice that will be experienced by the oppressed. Members of the relatively advantaged group will be sensitive to the injustices experienced by the oppressed when they are aware that the oppressed are relatively deprived, that they are receiving less than their entitlement.

An individual's conception of what is he and others are entitled to is determined by at least five major kinds of influence:

(1) the ideologies and myths about justice that are dominant and officially supported in the society,

(2) the amount of exposure to ideologies and myths that conflict with those that are officially supported and are supportive of larger claims for the oppressed,

(3) experienced changes in satisfactions-dissatisfactions,

(4) knowledge of what others who are viewed as comparable are getting, and

(5) perceptions of the bargaining power of the oppressed and oppressors.

The Influence of Ideologies and Myths

The official ideology and myths of any society help define and justify the values that are distributed to the different positions within the society; they codify for the individual what a person in his position can legitimately expect. Examples are legion of how official ideology and myth limit or enhance one's views of what one is entitled to. The American poor offer an instance of the potency of myth in creating an identity that promotes docility in the face of deprivation.[5] Schools, the mass media, and their political rhetoric teach Americans that America is the land of equal opportunity. Given such pervasive indoctrination, the poor are apt to attribute their condition to their own failings. This view of themselves as unworthy is further supported by cues from governmental practices toward them which place in question their morality, ambition, and competence. As a result, the poor in America have typically been meek and acquiescent, requiring less coercion and less in benefits than has been true in other developed countries. Similarly, the ideology and myth of white supremacy has led whites to expect that they are entitled to deferential behavior from blacks and blacks to expect that they are not entitled to equal treatment from whites. In addition, men and women under the influence of a sexist mythology and ideology have defined gender entitlements that give the woman supremacy in the narrow confines of the kitchen and the nursery while men have supremacy in the broad world outside the home as well as in many areas within it.

The Weakening of Official Ideologies

It is difficult not to accept the official myths and ideology of one's society even if they are to one's disadvantage unless:

(1) there is a breakdown of consensual norms and the inability or unwillingness of the ruling elite to act in such a way as to restore these norms. This is likely to occur during a period of rapid social change or intra-societal conflict, either of which could bring into question the legitimacy of traditional myths and values.

(2) there is a failure of the society to deliver the entitlements that it has defined as legitimate for one's position, so that the magnitude of one's relative deprivation is increased. This could be due to natural or social disasters that worsen the conditions of daily life; or

(3) there is exposure to new ideologies and new examples that are accepted as legitimate by many people, which stimulate consciousness of new and better possibilities. This could happen as the result of increased communication arising from new technological developments such as books, newspapers, radio, and television, or it may reflect an increased urbanization and the resulting exposure to more diversity of people, ideas, and experience. Obviously, one would expect that the receptivity to new ideologies and examples would be heightened by the breakdown of legitimacy of the existing ideology and the worsening of living conditions.

Experienced Changes in Satisfactions-Dissatisfactions

Modifications in the conception of what one is entitled to derive not only from alterations in the ideology and myths that one accepts, but also from changes in one's experiences of satisfaction. A period of gain creates expectations about further improvement. As Tocqueville in L'Amcien Regime commented: "Only a great genius can save a prince who undertakes to relieve his subjects after a long oppression. The evil, which was suffered patiently as inevitable, seems unendurable as soon as the idea of escaping from it is conceived".[6]

Many social scientists, before and after Tocqueville, have written insightfully about the "revolution of rising expectations" to explain the paradox that social discontent and even revolutionary activity is more likely to occur after social conditions have improved, when there is rising hope, not bleak despair. The explanation generally follows two major lines. First, improvement of social conditions increases aspirations by increasing what is perceived to be possible to attain. Demand may increase at a faster rate than the actual gains received, with a resulting increase in relative deprivation and in the sense of injustice. The increased discontent is most likely to occur if the gains are discontinued or reversed after the initial gains have heightened further expectations.

The second explanation of the effects of gains is that, the increase is not uniform in all areas in which the victimized are disadvantaged. Improvement in one area, such as education, only makes one more sensitive to the injustice one is experiencing in other areas such as employment, police protection, and housing. Many social scientists have advanced the proposition that status-disequilibrium (such that there are differences in one's relative statuses in income, education, social prestige, and the like) is a source of tension and discontent. Thus, a very effective way of enhancing the sense of injustice of the victimized is to increase their education and little else.

Comparing Oneself to Others

Alterations in the conception of what one is entitled to result not only from changes in the level of satisfaction, but also from modifications in one's views: either about how comparable others are being treated, or about who should be considered as comparable. There is considerable research evidence that one's attitude, one's evaluations of one's abilities, and one's emotions are very much influenced by one's perceptions of these attributes in others who are used for comparison purposes.[7] Although the evidence is by no means conclusive, it has been suggested by Festinger, Gurr, and others that comparison tends to be primarily with similar others, and Gurr further suggests that the comparison will be with the similar others whose gains are most rapid.[8] Thus, if someone else who is perceived to be similar is already better off, then one will feel it is unjust, and if, in addition, the person advances rapidly in status, salary, or the like, one will experience a substantial increase in relative deprivation unless one receives a comparable increase. A potent way of arousing the sense of injustice is to make the victim more aware that comparable others are being treated better or to increase her feeling that it is appropriate to compare herself with others whom she previously considered to be incomparable to herself.

Increasing Bargaining Power

One's perceived power is undoubtedly a factor determining what one is entitled to and with whom one compares oneself to establish one's entitlements. If a victim or victimized group is dealing with an unresponsive exploitative group, it is faced with either the possibility of resigning into apathy and depression or attempting to increase its power sufficiently to persuade or compel the other to negotiate. Bargaining power is increased by either of two means: increasing one's own power or decreasing the other's power. Attempts to change power can be directed at altering the resources that underlie power (such as wealth, physical strength, organization, knowledge, skill, trust, respect, and affection), or it can be directed toward modifying the effectiveness with which the resources of power are employed.

The primary resource of the oppressed are discontented people and having justice on their side. The utility of people as a resource of power is a function of their numbers, their personal qualities (such as their knowledge, skill, dedication, and discipline), their social cohesion (as reflected in mutual trust , mutual liking, mutual values, and mutual goals) and their social organization (as expressed in effective coordination and communication, division of labor, and specialization of function, planning and evaluation). Numbers of people are obviously important, but undoubtedly not as important as their personal qualities, social cohesion, and social organization. A large, inchoate mass of undisciplined, ineffectual people are at the mercy of a small, dedicated, disciplined, well-organized, cohesive group. Most large groups are controlled by less than ten percent of their membership.

If one examines such low-power minority groups as the Jews, Chinese, and Japanese that have done disproportionately well in the United States and in other countries to which they have migrated, it is apparent that these groups have been characterized by high social cohesion and effective social organization, combined with an emphasis upon the development of such personal qualities as skill, dedication, and discipline. Similarly, the effectiveness of such guerilla forces as the Vietcong or such terrorist groups as Al Qaeda has been, in part, due to their cohesion, social organization, and personal dedication. Clearly, the development of these characteristics is of prime importance as a means of increasing the power of one's group.

Elsewhere, I have considered some of the determinants of cohesion. Here I add that groups become cohesive by formulating and working together on issues that are specific, immediate, and realizable.[9] They become effectively organized as they plan how to use their resources to achieve their purposes and as they evaluate their past effectiveness in the light of their experiences. It is apparent that the pursuit of vague, far-in-the-future, grandiose objectives will not long sustain a group's cohesiveness. Nor will the exclusive pursuit of a single issue be likely to sustain a long-enduring group, unless that issue proliferates into many sub-issues. Those intent upon developing social cohesion and social organization should initially seek out issues that permit significant victories quickly; they will set out on a protracted indeterminate struggle only after strongly cohesive and effective social organizations have been created.

So far, I have stressed personal qualities, social cohesion, and social organization as resources that can be developed by low-power groups to enhance their power. Typically, such resources are vastly underdeveloped in victimized groups; however, they are necessary to the effective utilization of almost every other type of resource, including money, votes, tools, force, and the like. Low-power groups often have two other key assets that can be used to amplify their other resources: discontent and the sense of injustice. If intense enough, these may provide the activating motivation and the continuing determination to change the status quo. They are the energizers for individual and social action to bring about change. Moreover, to the extent that the basis for discontent and the nature of the injustice can be communicated to others so that they experience it, if only vicariously, then supporters and allies will be attracted to the side of the low-power group. And increasing the number of one's supporters and allies is another important way of increasing one's power. Thus, in a circular way, bargaining power and the sense of injustice mutually reinforce each other: an increase in one increases the other.

Discontent and the sense of injustice may be latent rather than manifest in a subordinated group. Neither the consciousness of oneself as victimized or disadvantaged nor the consciousness of being a member of a class of disadvantaged may exist psychologically. If this be the case, consciousness-raising tactics are necessary precursors to the developing of group cohesion and social organization. The diversity of consciousness-raising tactics have been illustrated by the variety of techniques employed in recent years by women's liberation groups and black power groups. They range from quasi-therapeutic group discussion meetings through mass meetings and demonstrations to dramatic confrontations of those in high-power groups. It is likely that a positive consciousness of one's disadvantaged identity is most aroused when one sees someone, who is considered to be similar to oneself, explicitly attacked or disadvantaged and sees him resist successfully or overcome the attack; his resistance reveals simultaneously the wound and its cure.

Note: This was originally one long article on oppression, which we have broken up to post on Beyond Intractability . The next article in the series is: Overcoming Oppression through Persuasion .

But the question remains, will this awakening last, or will people fall back, fairly quickly into complacency or resignation as has so often happened before? Deutsch observes that official ideologies can be weakened and then altered when

there is a breakdown of consensual norms and the inability or unwillingness of the ruling elite to act in such a way as to restore these norms. This is likely to occur during a period of rapid social change or intra-societal conflict, either of which could bring into question the legitimacy of traditional myths and values.

This certainly is the situation we are seeing today. Not only is there a breakdown over the norms of legitimate "law and order," but we have a high degree of intra-societal conflict, not just over race or policing, but over almost everything our society is currently grappling with: a pandemic, an economic collapse, a looming environmental catastrophe, among others. Put all of these stressors together with the fact that many, many people are out of work and some of those may have much more time to reflect, join protests, and volunteer for activist causes. So the chances of the current awakening lasting and "going somewhere" seem higher than usual. He goes on to say "Obviously, one would expect that the receptivity to new ideologies and examples would be heightened by the breakdown of legitimacy of the existing ideology and the worsening of living conditions." Certainly the legitimacy of law enforcement was gravely injured by the actions of officer Derek Chauvin (who killed George Floyd), and Americans' underlying living conditions are substantially worsening due to COVID-19. Two unrelated events, but they come together to enhance the receptivity to new ideologies and fundamental, lasting social change.

Deutsch also observers that cohesion of the protest group is important for lasting success. I think his admonishments here are particularly worth noting:

Groups become cohesive by formulating and working together on issues that are specific, immediate, and realizable.[9] They become effectively organized as they plan how to use their resources to achieve their purposes and as they evaluate their past effectiveness in the light of their experiences. It is apparent that the pursuit of vague, far-in-the-future, grandiose objectives will not long sustain a group's cohesiveness. Nor will the exclusive pursuit of a single issue be likely to sustain a long-enduring group, unless that issue proliferates into many sub-issues. Those intent upon developing social cohesion and social organization should initially seek out issues that permit significant victories quickly; they will set out on a protracted indeterminate struggle only after strongly cohesive and effective social organizations have been created.

This suggests that protestors should work to set out a number of short-term, achievable goals, together with longer-term, but still more specific goals instead of the amorphous "get rid of systemic racism." Whether "defunding the police" is actually a good short or intermediate-term goal is debatable. Certainly we need some entity to provide the services the police had been (or were supposed to) perform: respond when violent crimes are in progress, respond to car accidents and other situations where people need help, give out traffic tickets (as much as we hate getting them, do we really want to drive on roads where there are no rules?) etc. Before we call for getting rid of the police, perhaps we should consider reforms that a majority of the citizenry would see as an improvement to the current situation.

--Heidi Burgess, July 2020.

Back to Essay Top

[1] Freud. Anna (1937). Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense . London: Hogarth.

[2] Crosby, f. (1982). Relative Deprivation and Working Women . New York: Oxford University Press.

[3] Runciman, W.C. (1966). Relative Deprivation and Social Justice . Berkeley: University of California Press.

[4] Tajfel, H. (1982). Social Identity and Intergroup Relations . New York: Cambridge University Press.

[5] Edelman, P. (1971). Politics as Symbolic Action: Mass Arousal and Acquiescence . Chicago: Markham.

[6] Tocqueville, A. de (1947). L'Ancien Regime . Trans, M.W. Patterson. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, p. 186.

[7] Pettigrew, T. (1967). Social Evaluation Theory. In D. Levine, ed., Nebraska Symposium on Motivation . Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

[8] Festinger, L. (1954). A Theory of Social Comparison Processes. American Psychologist , 16 , 1-11.

Gurr, T. R. (1970). Why Men Rebel. Princeton , NJ: Princeton University Press.

[9] Deutsch, M. (1973). The Resolution of Conflict: Constructive and Destructive Processes . New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.

Use the following to cite this article: Deutsch, Morton. "Overcoming Oppression: Awakening the Sense of Injustice." Beyond Intractability . Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: March 2005 < http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/awakening >.

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Cultural Oppression Essays

Cultural appropriation: a case of african influence on modern art in the social context, popular essay topics.

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Discrimination and Prejudice — Oppression

Essays on Oppression

What makes a good oppression essay topics.

When it comes to writing an oppression essay, choosing the right topic is crucial. A good essay topic should be thought-provoking, relevant, and provide ample opportunity for critical analysis. Here are some recommendations on how to brainstorm and choose an essay topic, what to consider, and What Makes a Good essay topic.

When brainstorming for essay topics, consider current events, historical events, literature, and social issues. Think about what interests you and what you feel passionate about. Consider topics that are not only relevant but also have enough research material available to support your arguments.

A good essay topic should be specific and focused. It should not be too broad or too narrow, allowing for in-depth analysis and discussion. It should also be thought-provoking and challenging, encouraging the reader to think critically about the subject matter.

Consider the target audience when choosing an essay topic. Think about what would engage and interest them. Additionally, consider the purpose of the essay and what you hope to achieve with it. Are you looking to inform, persuade, or provoke critical thinking? Your essay topic should align with your goals.

A good essay topic should also be relevant and timely. It should address current issues and provoke discussion and debate. It should also be unique and original, offering a fresh perspective on the subject matter.

Best Oppression Essay Topics

When it comes to oppression essay topics, it's important to choose topics that stand out and provoke critical thinking. Here are some creative and thought-provoking essay topics that go beyond the ordinary:

The psychological effects of systemic oppression on marginalized communities
The role of language in perpetuating oppression
The impact of colonialism on indigenous communities
Oppression and resistance in dystopian literature
The intersectionality of oppression and identity
The role of media in perpetuating stereotypes and oppression
Oppression and the criminal justice system
The impact of economic oppression on mental health
Oppression and the LGBTQ+ community
The effects of oppression on mental health and well-being
Oppression and the education system
The role of religion in perpetuating oppression
Oppression and environmental justice
The impact of oppression on access to healthcare
The role of privilege in perpetuating oppression
Oppression and the refugee crisis
The impact of oppression on freedom of expression
Oppression and the arts
The role of technology in perpetuating oppression
The impact of oppression on access to basic needs

Oppression essay topics Prompts

If you're looking for some creative prompts to inspire your oppression essay, here are five thought-provoking ideas to get you started:

Imagine a world without oppression. What would it look like, and how can we work towards achieving it?
Write about a personal experience with oppression and how it has shaped your perspective on social justice.
Choose a work of literature or film that addresses oppression and analyze its themes, characters, and message.
Research a historical event or movement that sought to challenge oppression and discuss its impact on society.
Consider the role of privilege in perpetuating oppression and how we can work towards creating a more equitable society.

Choosing a good oppression essay topic is essential for creating a thought-provoking and engaging essay. By considering relevance, specificity, and creativity, you can choose a topic that will inspire critical thinking and meaningful discussion. Whether it's addressing current issues, analyzing historical events, or exploring the intersectionality of oppression, there are plenty of unique and creative essay topics to choose from.

Oppression in America: then and Now

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Oppression, Its Brutality and Its Inescapability, is a Dominant Theme in Literature

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Oppression of Women in The Victorian Age: Play Pygmallion

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Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment or exercise of power, often under the guise of governmental authority or cultural opprobrium.

Authoritarian oppression, socioeconomic, political, legal, cultural, and institutional oppression. Social oppression includes privilege, racial oppression, class oppression, gender oppression, religious persecution, domination, institutionalized oppression, economic oppression, etc.

Relevant topics

Racial Profiling
Discrimination
Hate Speech
Cultural Diversity
Peer Pressure
Gender Discrimination

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PDF FIVE FACES OF OPPRESSION
Oppression is when people reduce the potential for other people to be fully human. Learn about the five types of oppression: violence, exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, and cultural imperialism, and how they affect different groups and societies.
Cultural appropriation and oppression
The author argues that cultural appropriation is wrong because it manifests and/or exacerbates inequality and marginalization of cultural groups. He compares his oppression account with the intimacy account and criticizes its limitations.
Culture, Prejudice, Racism, and Discrimination
This article explores the links between culture and intolerance, such as racism, sexism, and xenophobia, and how they are manifested in different levels and contexts. It also discusses the challenges of defining and studying prejudice, discrimination, and racism, and how they intersect with other forms of oppression.
Racism in the Structure of Everyday Worlds: A Cultural-Psychological
The term racism is often used synonymously with prejudice (biased feelings or affect), stereotyping (biased thoughts and beliefs, flawed generalizations), discrimination (differential treatment or the absence of equal treatment), and bigotry (intolerance or hatred). This practice implicitly conceptualizes racism as a set of basic social-psychological processes underlying the psychologies of ...
Cultural Oppression and the High-Risk Status of African Americans
This article examines how cultural oppression, or the imposition and universalization of Eurocentric values and interpretations, has produced three risk factors for African Americans: cultural estrangement, attenuation of Black collectivism, and spiritual alienation. Cultural oppression is argued to be foundational in explaining the social problems and vulnerability of African Americans.
Social Identities and Systems of Oppression
Learn how oppression is a combination of prejudice and institutional power that discriminates against some groups and benefits others. Explore the concepts of social identities, intersectionality, and privilege, and how they shape American society and culture.
The Nature and Origins of Oppression
This essay by Morton Deutsch explores the historical and social causes and consequences of oppression, a form of systemic injustice. It traces the origins of oppression to the development of agriculture and warfare, and discusses its current implications for conflict resolution.
Shades of Cultural Marginalization: Cultural Survival and Autonomy
As a result, marginalized groups have historically lost material and symbolic cultural resources due to various forms of domination, be they physical or symbolic (Miller et al., 1995).Such loss is usually followed by coping mechanisms such as mourning, resistance, escaping, or accepting and adapting to survive (e.g. Alkhaled & Sasaki, 2022; Martí & Fernández, 2013).
PDF Globalization and Cultural Conflict: An Institutional Approach
This essay argues that globalization can fuel cultural conflict or integration depending on the role of economic and political institutions in different societies. It examines how globalization creates winners and losers among cultural groups, and how institutions shape their responses and outcomes.
Cultural Violence: Its Forms, Effects, and Solutions
Cultural violence refers to the social norms, practices, and ideologies that promote and sustain violence and oppression towards specific groups or individuals. Learn about the different forms of cultural violence, such as structural, symbolic, and direct violence, and how they affect physical, mental, social, and societal health.
Commentary: Cultural Appropriation Is, In Fact, Indefensible
Essay: Cultural Appropriation Is, In Fact, ... systematic oppression and segregation in America meant black musicians didn't have access to the same opportunities for mainstream exposure, income ...
Historical Oppression, Resilience, and Transcendence: Can a Holistic
According to a framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence, the interaction, accumulation, interconnections, and balance of risk and protective factors across multiple levels (that is, individual, family and relational, community and cultural, and societal) predict whether a person experiences wellness (balance among the mind, body, soul, and spirit) after experiencing ...
Tools for Social Change: The Five Faces of Oppression
Learn how oppression is a system that maintains advantage and disadvantage based on social group memberships, and operates on individual, institutional, and cultural levels. Explore the categories of exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence, and how they show up in today's society.
Cultural Oppression and the High-Risk Status of African Americans
One of the persistent and perennial challenges faced by African Americans is that of cultural oppression. Although the effects of oppression on African Americans have received enormous attention, much of the focus has been on political and economic oppression as the primary sources of the social problems that African Americans confront.
Privilege, Oppression, Diversity and Social Justice
P.O.D.S. stands for Privilege, Oppression, Diversity and Social Justice, a framework for keeping justice at the center of social work education and practice. Learn how P.O.D.S. helps us understand and reduce social oppression, and how it is integrated into every course at the University of Michigan School of Social Work.
Oppression: Contemporary Manifestations, and Resistance: [Essay Example
In everyday life, oppression manifests through microaggressions, stereotyping, and unequal treatment based on individual characteristics. Psychological and Socio-Cultural Effects of Oppression. Oppression has significant psychological effects, impacting individuals' self-esteem, mental well-being, and sense of identity.
The Ugly Side of America: Institutional Oppression and Race
oppression of minorities, particularly African American males. We contend that structural racism today is the result of institutional oppression of African Americans throughout the nation's history. This manuscript is divided into four major sections of socio-historical significance: 1. Foundations of Racial Oppression; 2.
Overcoming Oppression: Awakening the Sense of Injustice
At first glance, it would seem that this is the one essay in Deutsch's Oppression Series that does not apply to the situation in the summer of 2020. ... moral inclusion, and cultural imperialism. It is commonly assumed that it is relative, rather than absolute, deprivation that is critical in stimulating dissatisfaction. Research has ...
Cultural appropriation and oppression
Keywords Cultural appropriation • Oppression • Culture • Essentialism 1 Introduction The wrong of cultural appropriation is rooted in imbalances of power. Whether a ... oppression. Indeed, as mentioned at the outset of this essay, it appears that wrongful cultural appropriation can have as many faces as oppression (Young 2011). Another
Diversity, Critical Multiculturalism, and Oppression: Interaction and
objectivity is surfaced and cultural construction of relationships is recognized. Emancipation, social construction, and a dedication to eliminating suffering create a model that links ending oppression with building social and economic justice. Identity is an integral part of our core sense of self. It is the consistent yet potentially flexible
Cultural Oppression and Human Trafficking: Exploring the Role of Racism
Cultural oppression, including racism and ethnic bias, creates additional risk for human trafficking and generates unique challenges for prevention and intervention. There are, however, cultural strengths that survivors of human trafficking have that may be utilized to aid their recovery process as well as psychotherapeutic interventions.
Cultural Oppression Essay Examples
Cultural Oppression Essays. Cultural Appropriation: A Case of African Influence on Modern Art in the Social Context. Introduction The lack of perception that once prevented Western scholars from properly studying traditional African art is returning to haunt them in their contemporary and modern art studies. According to Dutton (2018)., the ...
Essays on Oppression
When it comes to oppression essay topics, it's important to choose topics that stand out and provoke critical thinking. Here are some creative and thought-provoking essay topics that go beyond the ordinary: ... Cultural action, Intersectionality, Psychological abuse, Sociology, The Oppressed . 21 The Damaging Effects of an Oppressive Society in ...