Conceptual Frameworks of Oppression Flashcards
what is a social group
a group of people who share a range of physical, cultural, or social characteristics within one of the social identity categories
example: black, male, working class, Jewish, lesbian, adults
what are the 7 categories of identity
race/ethnicity gender socioeconomic class religion sexual orientation ability age
what is culture
the norms, values, practices, patterns of communication, language, laws, customs, and meanings shared by a group of people located in a given time and place
what is socialization
our systemic training into the norms of our culture
example: gender socialization, boys wear blue girls wear pink, etc
what is social stratification
the concept that social groups are relationally positioned in a hierarchy of unequal value
example: people w/out disabilities are seen as more valuable than people w disabilities
dominant group
group that is systemically advantaged by society, allowing for greater access to political, social, and economic power
subordinate group
group that is systemically disadvantaged by society through restricted access to political, social, and economic power
positionality
the recognition that where you stand in relation to other groups in society can shape what you see and understand
stereotype
an oversimplified generalization about a whole group of people without regard to individual differences
example: asians are smart
prejudice
a learned prejudgement about members of social groups to which we don’t belong
discrimination
an ACTION based on prejudice toward social others. When we act on our prejudices, we are discriminating
Individual level discrimination
the conscious or unconscious attitudes and behaviors of individual members of one group that has a differential and/or harmful effect on members of another group
institutional level discrimination
the network of institutional structures, policies, and practices that create advantage for dominant group members and disadvantages for people in subordinate groups
oppression
a system that maintains advantage and disadvantage based on social group memberships and is the result of many acts of discrimination at the individual, institutional, and ideological levels and perpetuated by against a subordinated social group over a long period of time.
examples: racism, sexism, classism, etc
internalized oppression
part of the socialization process in which members of both dominant and subordinated groups internalize social messages about their own and other groups
internalized dominance
when members of dominant groups learn to think and act in ways that express internalized notions of entitlement and privilege
internalized subordination
when subordinate group members accept the dominant groups ideology about their group and they think, feel, and act in ways that demonstrate the devaluation of their group and of themselves and members of that group
ideology/ideological oppression
the big, shared ideas of a society that are reinforced throughout all of the institutions and thus are very hard to avoid believing.
examples: definitions of good and evil, standards of beauty, etc
hegemony
the imposition of a dominant group ideology onto everyone in society. Hegemony makes it difficult to escape or resist believing in this dominant ideology, and thus social control is achieved through conditioning rather than physical force or intimidation
privilege
when one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the group they belong to rather than because of anything they have ever done or failed to do
ally
members of dominant groups who use their social, political, and economic power to work for the rights of subordinated groups.
what is the difference between oppression and discrimination
oppression is s system that develops over time because of discrimination. Anyone can be discriminatory against anyone else, but only subordinated groups can be oppressed because of the system that exists that limits their access to social, political, and economic power
