Define me
Social identity(ies) that is more likely to experience discrimination, marginalization, and oppression are typically placed within this group.
What is Target Group?
Social identity(ies) that is more likely to experience power, privilege and the capacity to define and determine what is “normal” are typically placed within this group.
What is Agent Group (or dominant group)?
Racism is a form of _______.
What is oppression?
Racism is a form of oppression, and therefore, the 5 types of oppression apply for racism as well (and any other ism).
The act of rejecting or confining a group of people to a lower social standing (pushed to the outer edge of society). This includes (but is not limited to) exclusion from labor, exclusion from participation in social life, gatekeeping of resources, etc.
What is Marginalization?
As we discussed a few weeks ago, marginalization allows for those in the dominant group to "blame the victim" and thus absolve those (and systems) who benefit from racism and discrimination.
For example, a company might justify its lack of hiring female-identifying candidates by stating that the candidates are "less qualified" for the position.
What other examples come to mind?
The combination of prejudice and institutional power creates a system that discriminates against some groups (often called “target groups”) and benefits other groups (often called “dominant groups ” or “agent groups”).
What is oppression?
prejudice + institutional power = oppression
The idea that one group is better than another. The core of all oppressive systems.
This ideology is also at the core of internalized dominance. One has internalized the belief that their group (dominant group) is better and that everyone must strive to assimilate. There is also a belief that everyone has the same level of access. This allows for the denial of power and privilege and is why internalized dominance is so dangerous if unaddressed--it is the core.
The web of racism as noted in your reading is an example of _________.
What is institutional oppression?
What are some examples of institutional oppression?
Random, unprovoked attacks against a person, group of people, or community.
What is Violence?
As a tool of oppression, violence can show up in the form of physical, psychological, or emotional attacks. Violence is used as a tool to maintain power over and control of a particular group.
What examples of violence as a tool of oppression come to mind?
A system of power and oppression that structures opportunities and assigns value based on race and ethnicity, unfairly disadvantaging people of color, while unfairly advantaging white people.
What is racism?
The idea that one group is better than another gets embedded in the legal system, education system, economic system, transportation system, etc.
What is institutional oppression?
A Black female first-year college student was meeting with her advisor to discuss areas of study. When the student informed the advisor that she wanted to study psychology, the advisor responded, "that's probably going to be too challenging for you. Why don't you consider studying nursing instead?"
This is an example of _______.
What is interpersonal oppression?
Interpersonal oppression can show up in the form of a microaggression. A microaggression, as we have discussed, can be enacted at both the conscious and subconscious level. What makes microaggressions possible is the internalized ideology that one group (the dominant group) is better than another.
The act of using people’s labor, skill, intellectual property, etc. to produce profit w/o fair compensation.
What is Exploitation?
Exploitation creates classes of people (i.e. wealthy and poor) and allows for the "haves" to continually exploit the "have nots."
What examples come to mind?
The idea that one group is better than another and has the right to control the other gives permission and reinforcement for individual members of the dominant group to personally disrespect or mistreat individuals in the oppressed group.
What is Interpersonal oppression?
People who hold targeted identities experience dominant culture demonstrating their belief that they are superior. In turn, they may embody the ideology of inferiority, they see it reflected in the institutions, they experience disrespect interpersonally from members of the dominant group, and thus may eventually come to believe the negative messages about themselves.
What is internalized oppression?
When youth of color are removed from their families and placed in a residential setting, they observe that most of their peers in care look like them. This reinforces a powerful message embodied since childhood—“I am bad and unworthy.”
This is an example of ________.
What is internalized oppression?
As referenced in Dr. Ken Hardy's article, Healing the Hidden Wounds of Racial Trauma, internalized devaluation is synonymous with internalized oppression. Both terms drive home the fact that people who experience oppression may begin to believe the messages that are reinforced throughout society. Dr. Hardy stresses the point that "Internalized devaluation is a direct by-product of racism, inextricably linked to the deification of whiteness and the demonization of non-white hues." Again, this ideological belief that one group is "better than" another.
The same concept can be applied to ablism, sexism, etc. What other examples come to mind for you? How might you apply an intersectional lens in your Social Work practice?
The act of normalizing the culture of the ruling class (or dominant group).
What is Cultural Imperialism?
Cultural imperialism is when the politically or economically dominant community imposes its own culture (customs, traditions, religions, language, etc.) onto the non-dominant community.
What are some examples of cultural imperialism used as a tool of oppression?
The idea that one group is better than another, and that group controls the narrative and the way past events are retold.
What is Historical oppression?
Historical oppression encompasses all others and takes form in the ways by which oppressed people have historically been treated, the trauma they have observed and taken in, the coping responses, and resilience mechanisms they have developed.
An enduring feature of all systems (including the social, economic, and political) in which we all exist. A system in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms work in various, often reinforcing ways to perpetuate racial group inequity.
What is Structural racism?
Structural racism is not something that a few people or institutions choose to practice. It is built into the fabric and is the foundation upon which the US operates. The US was founded on a racial contract, and that contract continues to permeate our institutions and policies. In other words, no institution is operating outside of racism.
How might this show up on a global scale?
Racism is embedded in seemingly race-neutral institutions and policies. Give 2 examples of this.
What is ______ and ________?
Open discussion:
What other examples come to mind?
A result of exploitation and marginalization.
What is Powerlessness?
Powerlessness, similarly to learned voicelessness, can erode the decision-making power of people and communities experiencing oppression. It can create a culture of silence, lead to internalized oppression, and allow for oppressors to engage in gaslighting.