7 Elements of Oppression

Here is a conceptual framework for oppression/privilege that I am kicking around. Feedback welcome.

1. The targeted group is constructed by the dominant group. Who is black, who is gay, who is a woman, who is an outsider? These questions are not sui generis in the oppressed communities, rather they are created as categories by the dominant culture. Thus, you can have men who have sex with men saying they are 'not gay' because the dominant culture has constructed the category of gay as a stereotype. Thus, who is Black has been determined legally - the one drop rule.



2. There are interconnected levels of oppression - specific interventions will not address all of them. A program designed to deconstruct individual beliefs about race and racism will not change institutionalized racism. A change in sexism corporate policy will not remove sexism from the individual employees. Legal change in gay rights does not necessarily lead to changes in societal attitudes.



3. Power is the essential component of oppression/privilege. People of all kinds discriminate and judge, but when the dominant group does this to the subordinate group - then we see the processes of oppression/privilege coming into play.



4. All targeted groups receive the same messages about themselves that the dominant culture receives about them. Thus, members of targeted groups have internalized to some extent the negative messages of dominant culture. Blacks have internalized racism. Gays & Lesbians have internalized heterosexism. The disabled have internalized able-ism.



5. Membership in a dominant group brings with it unearned privilege. All men, all heterosexuals, all white folks, all upper class folks, all temporarily able-bodied folks, all native-born citizens, et alia receive privileges (usually invisible to them) because of their membership in that dominant group.



6. Most people belong to multiple groups, some dominant and some targeted. We all have multiple identities. While we being targeted because of our membership in one group, it is important to monitor the unearned privileges that we get because of other identities. The critiques of feminism as an upper class movement, or the civil right movement as a male movement, or the gay rights movement as a white movement are all based in leaders forgetting to monitor their dominant group memberships.



7. Even as things improve, the historical inequalities experienced targeted groups have lasting effects. We must understand, and in some cases correct for, the historical inequalities (intentional and unintentional) that have led to an inequality in opportunity for members of target groups.