Conceptual Frameworks of Oppression

Question 1

what is a social group

Answer 1

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

Question 2

what are the 7 categories of identity

Answer 2

race/ethnicity
gender
socioeconomic class
religion
sexual orientation
ability
age

Question 3

what is culture

Answer 3

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

Question 4

what is socialization

Answer 4

our systemic training into the norms of our culture

example: gender socialization, boys wear blue girls wear pink, etc

Question 5

what is social stratification

Answer 5

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

Question 6

dominant group

Answer 6

group that is systemically advantaged by society, allowing for greater access to political, social, and economic power

Question 7

subordinate group

Answer 7

group that is systemically disadvantaged by society through restricted access to political, social, and economic power

Question 8

positionality

Answer 8

the recognition that where you stand in relation to other groups in society can shape what you see and understand

Question 9

stereotype

Answer 9

an oversimplified generalization about a whole group of people without regard to individual differences
example: asians are smart

Question 10

prejudice

Answer 10

a learned prejudgement about members of social groups to which we don’t belong

Question 11

discrimination

Answer 11

an ACTION based on prejudice toward social others. When we act on our prejudices, we are discriminating

Question 12

Individual level discrimination

Answer 12

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

Question 13

institutional level discrimination

Answer 13

the network of institutional structures, policies, and practices that create advantage for dominant group members and disadvantages for people in subordinate groups

Question 14

oppression

Answer 14

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

Question 15

internalized oppression

Answer 15

part of the socialization process in which members of both dominant and subordinated groups internalize social messages about their own and other groups

Question 16

internalized dominance

Answer 16

when members of dominant groups learn to think and act in ways that express internalized notions of entitlement and privilege

Question 17

internalized subordination

Answer 17

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

Question 18

ideology/ideological oppression

Answer 18

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

Question 19

hegemony

Answer 19

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

Question 20

privilege

Answer 20

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

Question 21

ally

Answer 21

members of dominant groups who use their social, political, and economic power to work for the rights of subordinated groups.

Question 22

what is the difference between oppression and discrimination

Answer 22

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