Inequality And Oppression

Oppression is the state of being subjected to unjust treatment or control. People with disabilities get treated unfairly at some point in their life. They are either treated as if they do not know what they are doing, can’t do something, or are ridiculed. In many countries people with mental or physical challenges aren’t given enough treatment and are not given the respect they deserve as a human being. “Russia: Discrimination against People with Disabilities” is a YouTube video describing the pros and cons in the country. On the other hand the article “The Life of a Disabled Child, From Taunts to Hate Crimes” from the New York Times tells the story of a little girl who at one point in time was part of the cruelty towards her brother.

Have you ever wondered how far back in our history the world has been full of hate, prejudice, and rage? It has been seen in the form of war, mass genocide, enslavement, and even something minimal compared to the others, like riots and looting for centuries. Despite this common knowledge, there are many forms of violence, injustice, and rage that go unseen. Carol Anderson’s, White Rage, dives deep into the idea that maybe the worst forms of rage do not come from the most obvious and attention-capturing events, but the ones who stay hidden and subside deep in their privileged and ‘noble’ positions. She wants to show you, through the eyes of a minority, what it is like to constantly be looked past and looked down upon. Anderson argues the fact that no matter how many laws and regulations are put into place to cease the existence of racism, the rage in America continues to thwart African American advancement. Through precisely compelling choice of words and a structural design that pulls everything apart only to piece it back together to form a much larger picture, Anderson brings rage, the white rage, into a new and different light. This shows readers the depth of the racial problems in our country through a recap of groundbreaking historical events, advancing or obstructing African Americans, along with the white backlash.

Privilege and oppression are concepts that provides clarification on people’s experience. They both contribute to intersectionality which explain notion that people’s perspectives and experiences differ in term of the categories of identity. Each person may experience privilege and/ or oppression from institutional structures depending on their situations. It mean that systems of privilege and oppression can intersect and a person could experience privilege and oppression simultaneously. These systems are influence by the micro level and micro level of people’s lives and experiences. Privilege, oppression, and intersectionality affect people’s experiences of key social issues, such as rape culture and beauty norms and appearance standards. These issue will be discussed in this essay.

After I read the article, I had to sit back and digest the material for an entire day. The article force me to do some soul searching regarding my position on power, privilege, and oppression. Have I been so oblivious to my surroundings? I quickly thought about the six core values of social work: service, social justice, dignity and worth, importance of human relationships, integrity, & competence. Will I be able to help others; because like Spencer (2008) I took somethings in life for granted? It was ironic when I was reading the article that Martin Luther King Jr, Desmond Tutu, and Nelson Mandella came to mine. They all fought for the injustice and sacrificed much to change the minds of the one in the position of power.

This outburst is fueled by the kind of rage that bell hooks describes in Killing Rage. hooks asserts that for white people, black rage “must always remain repressed, contained, trapped in the realm of the unspeakable” (Killing Rage 12). She critiques black psychiatrists William Grier and Price Cobbs, who wrote the book Black Rage and described such as a sign of powerlessness. hooks argues: “they did not urge the larger culture to see black rage as something other than sickness, to see it as a potentially healthy, potentially healing response to oppression and exploitation” (Killing Rage 12). Because black rage was seen as something that could get black bodies murdered, it was supposed to be contained and hidden. hooks’ view of rage as something vital for the well-being of black individuals is important in the context of Assata’s autobiography. At one point, Assata states that white people could never understand someone becoming a Black revolutionary because “they had so little to revolt against” (119). Later on, in thinking back to having grown up in a segregated south, she remarks: “If i sit and add up all the ‘colored’ toilets and drinking fountains in my life and all of the back-of-the-buses or the Jim Crow railway cars or the places i couldn’t go, it adds up to a one great ball of anger” (138). Writing, then, serves as a form of exorcism, a way to cleanse out the anger from the spirit by channeling it into a creative outlet. The book itself encompasses black rage from

Oppression has change in history in the following ways: lower class people are treated different than higher class, people are discriminated by their race, and minorities knows how each class behave. People should not be obligated to change their lifestyle only because they are oppressing them to change for good. Each one of us should have freedom of what they want to do and enjoy life by not being forced to or feeling less than others

The United States is one of the best nation that provide many opportunities for entrepreneurs, and to make dream come true. The problems the U.S is facing is income inequality, where the nation want to be strong in the middle-class family. Authors Paul Krugman who wrote article “Confronting Inequality” argues in order to solve income inequality the government should raise the minimum wage. Krugman states “Minimum wage increases can have fairly significant effects on wages at the bottom end of the scale.” Brandon King who wrote “The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on hold?” talks about how supporting the small businesses can help solve income inequality. King states “Providing money to businesses may encourage them to hire more people, thereby

This research paper will outline the causes and traits of oppression in America. Dynamics such as the social, historical, and psychological systems that serve as vessels of oppression will be addressed. Using academic research, the goal for this essay will be to discuss the characteristics of oppression and how those characteristics are connected to its origin. The research will develop major themes that will serve to define agents, including classism, discrimination, and the intersectionality of different types of oppression. Discussions on strategies for addressing and ending the current oppression in America and recommendations for the future will be highlighted as well.

A Social Worker’s reflection on Power, Privilege and Oppression, this is the title of Michael Spence’s article, but what really does that mean? Spence talks about his personal experiences in life that dealt with all three of these aspects, power, privilege and oppression. In this paper this writer will also talk about power, privilege and oppression in regard to Spence’s outlook on the topic. What is power? How does it relate to Social Workers and social situations? Is privilege really something that can be given to you just based on race and where you grew up, or how you were raised? Lastly Oppression, what causes one type of social group to be oppressed?

Oppression suppresses individuals or groups using power to maintain what can be seen as social place within a society. Keeping groups or individuals at a level where their rights are restricted below those of the suppressor due to things such as race or sex. Enforcing inequalities upon those who have none or limited means to fight for equality. Oppression keeps people within a restricted existence where they are unable to improve their situation due to restrictions imposed by the oppressor.

It’s important to acknowledge the historical context when understanding oppression because oppression always has its roots somewhere; no one is oppressed just because. Marginalization of minority groups in the past, and even today, has a purpose—not necessarily a good purpose, though. The purpose was usually for power; majority groups wanted to be the standard for good, resulting in the dehumanization of minority groups. Therefore, to understand fully why the oppression still stands today, it’s important to look back on how it started. That way, we can see why it still persists in our society; is its original purpose still being pursued but in a less physical way like in the past? And, is it still affecting the same people today, even to a

As there is in every nation, conflict due to inequality is everywhere. Due to limited resources and the demand for power, there will always be conflict. The film illustrated many different aspects of inequality and tied into the conflict theory. Sociologist Karl Marx specializes in the conflict theory. He claims there is always going to be conflict because of competition for limited resources. The following are examples of how the video illustrated different aspects of the conflict theory.

The racism that runs deep in the blood of the United States is a complex issue to tackle. As white supremacy was the foundation on which the country was born, many believe that society breeds this racism and deny the possibility of change. bell hooks eloquently addresses the problems faced by those who seek to make change and establish equality in her essay, “Loving Blackness as Political Resistance.” She discusses these problems through the lens of her instruction by using responses to lectures. This brings to light the contemporary struggles in a very real context as most of her students are those who believe that they are progressive, yet hooks demonstrates where they lack: loving blackness. This notion goes

I am stating the Five Faces of Oppression based on my understand after reading Shaw & Lee. The first face is Exploitation. Exploitation is, “A process that transfer the results of labor of one social group to benefit another.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) An example of exploitation is sweat shops. Children in many parts of the world are making clothing items such as Nike for pennies a day. While these children are underpaid people who aren’t sweat shop workers’ pay multiple dollars for the items made. Marginalization is the next face, Margination is described as, “The expulsion of an entire group from useful participation in social life.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) A group that fits this category are the homeless. Homeless people were unable to pay their bills therefore, they’re without a home. Powerlessness comes next and is described as, “lack of respectability.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) An example of this would be minority groups. In the media you see many videos of white people disrespecting minorities for being “different.” Cultural Imperialism is the fourth face. Cultural Imperialism is, “Recognizing the dominant group experience and culture as the norm.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) An example of this is white culture in America. In America it’s the norm for mothers to be stay at home moms while the husband is the sole bread winner for the family. The last face of oppression is violence. Violence is described as, “Members of a subordinate group who live with the threat of violence.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) Transgender individuals live with a lot of fear and violence. Many people don’t understand or support the trans community and tend to thing in order to solve the “problem” they must hurt and kill trans individuals. Iris Young said described the acts as “Using people’s labors to produce profit while not compensating them fairly.”

Sociologists view power as a system of stratification that is based its ability to direct another person’s behavior, honor and prestige, which most of the times leads to patterns of social inequality. From this perspective, inequality means who gets what, how they get whatever they need, and why they need it in the first place (Diez, 2013). Power can either lead to social equality or inequality. In order to explain this in detail, the author of this paper explains two incidences, the first one in which the author was in power and the second one in which the author was a perpetrator of discrimination.