Oppression Definition Essay

I am a white woman. I am so pale, that my skin blows out the white balance in a photograph. Because I am white, I have been able to escape prejudices that so many other women experience every day. For a very long time, I was unaware of how deep-seated racism is in America. Because I am white, color was a non-issue for me. It was never discussed in my family. Why would it be? Many white people are blind to the injustices that others face, because it has never been something that affected their lives directly. As stated by C. Wright Mills in The Promise of Sociology, “...the personal uneasiness of individuals is focused upon explicit troubles and the indifference of publics is transformed into involvement with public issues” (Mills, 5). This describes how people are so focused on their own personal troubles, that they cannot comprehend the troubles of others. Therefore, they do not see the struggles of others as having the capacity to be a problem within society. Privilege is something I feel has only recently been discussed in mainstream media. Going to college really opened my eyes to the experiences of people who live entirely different lives than me, and interacting with people from all

Collins argues that it is dangerous to engage in a comparison of ranking oppression because it shapes competition for attention, resources and theoretical supremacy. According to Collins, race, class and gender are “interlocking categories of analysis that together cultivate profound differences in our personal biographies.” By using the three levels of oppression, provided as interlocking categories, it helps explain how to combat the notion of who is more oppressed than whom.

As a white male in today’s society, I never put much thought into how privileged I am already without even having to work for it necessarily. One of the reasons why I have never felt this way was due to being in a lower middle class family. As I have grown up, I have started to notice all the disparities in today’s societies between people of a different race, gender, and class. However, noticing the magnitude of the problems regarding race, gender, and class did not catch my attention until I was in high school, partly due to the fact that I became more mature in my metacognitive and observational skills. I started to notice what people were going through by the stories they told and sometimes by the clothes they wore, although I was never

Human begins since the beginning of time have understood the concept of racial solidarity but yet decides to ignore it. Racial oppression is a direct consequence of a superior race. Racial oppression is the act of power that causes the state of being to feel heavily exploited. There are two types of racial oppression that are not commonly well known of, institutionalized and internalized. Institutionalized oppression is expressed when a group of people based on their race has a different chance of obtaining goods, services, and societal opportunities. Internalized racial oppression is multi-situational experience that causes someone or a group to feel self-doubt or discomfort toward ones own race. African Americans have historically and presently been impacted the most by racial oppression.

I am a young black women who resides in a lower middle class area, and like other minorities like me in the community I am often passed up for opportunities that have been given to more privileged peers. Because of this

The concept of privilege is a fairly easy concept to understand once you peel back all of its layers. But it is also a concept that is rarely discussed among society. Because society is so focused on how everyone is “one in the same”, the conversation of how people are actually different is never discussed. Understanding that even though we all are human beings; our race, class, sexuality, religion, and many other things is what makes us all different in some shape or form. Conversations revolved around institutional discrimination and institutional racism can prevent certain people with privilege from understanding how marginalized groups are being oppressed by certain systems. For some reason, privileged people, particularly white privileged people, assume that all experiences are universal when we all know they aren’t. Assuming that all experiences are universal erases the lived experiences of marginalized people. Not only is there privilege related to skin color, but there is also privilege in sexuality as well. Heterosexual men and women have privilege as well. There have been well documented cases of institutional discrimination against those in the LGBTQIA community. While white privilege and heteronormativity privilege are forms of privilege, there are also other forms of privileges as well. But of course, there are some heterosexual men and women that don’t believe that they have problem. Sadly, they do, but they fail to recognize even the smallest things that form

It has become common today to dismiss mistreatment mostly of black, Mexican people, and women within our society group establishment even when injustice is happening right in front of our eyes. Sadly, we have been suffering from discrimination all of our lives by giving less opportunities to other people while favoring others. We have been taught that everyone must individually overcome social oppression only by becoming successful. In the first place, nobody should be discriminated because of their race, color, or sex, yet the problem continues. Social oppression has always been affected by our education, social interaction, and our view of

As a white, straight male, I've come to recognise that I've inherited a certain amount of privilege through no fault of my own. Racism, homophobia and sexism are still massive systemic problems in the West today. While it might not be so obvious, and many people would claim that they play no part in this, we live in a system that is incredibly biased towards middle-class, white, straight, men. The opportunities and resources available to me would be radically different if I were not white, straight and male - if I wasn't privileged. It's easy to ignore this, especially when I'm the one usually benefitting from it. I mean, why should I complain about the fact I've been given a good education and can work doing a job that I enjoy? Why shouldn’t I just enjoy my privilege?

Many people of race and color are citizens in United States , but do not have power or equal opportunity for education or jobs compare to white citizens of this country. Simply being white in the United States opens up many doors. However, because I don’t have to struggle through class and race injustice, I have been blind to how much gender oppression really will affect me and my experiences and goals. I acknowledge that as a white person, I have privileges, but if I look at the other part of myself, my being female, I recognize that I live in the society that does not provide me with the same privileges as men. Living in male - dominated culture has influenced me to want certain things that I may not have wanted if it was not for the oppressing of all less dominant groups, including women. Part of the problem is putting pressure

Growing up as an African American female, born in Sarasota, Florida, I have faced multiple acts of oppression over my 16 years of life. In Middle School, I was told I couldn’t have a certain career because I’m not strong or competitive enough. In addition to being overlooked, my input has been disregarded in discussions due to my age. While in a store, other shoppers have asked me where items are in a store, assuming I work there, due to my appearance. Individuals of a high status, including teachers, have made equivocal remarks about my intelligence due to my age and/or race. Despite these many discriminatory acts, I have retained my courage to aim for new pursuits, my confidence in my abilities, and my empathy for others who have been confronted with discrimination.

The gist of this article is the discussion of race, class, and gender as categories of analysis. The main point of this article is something that I had already believed in but didn’t necessarily think about at a deeper level. She emphasizes that everyone is oppressed and not one group is more important than the other. “Applying this premise to discussions of oppression leads to the assumption that oppression can be quantified, and that some groups are oppressed more than others” (236). Collins explains in this section of her article that people like to rank themselves to know who is above one another but is it apparent that we can’t do that for things such as oppression. Before reading this article my thinking behind this belief was that everyone lives on this planet and every race has a problem so we should focus on it as a whole, even though some are more prevailing than others. When I read the passage that questions domination and subordination within interlocking systems that make this relationship and how taking this question can promise us to move away from ranking oppressions that are present in all settings, even when one is more visible or salient that others (237), it made me realize that there was so much more to my belief than I thought. I never connected that race, class, and gender is what affects oppression as a whole. I know and acknowledge that some

Imagine a straight, white, financially stable man claiming that he is a victim of oppression? Sounds outrageous, right? However, it’s not, as the oppressor can be the oppressed, and vice versa. The system of oppression that we live in enable us all to be distinctively oppressed in various ways depending on context. When we look at a person, we should think critically of why are they the oppressed? The oppressor? More importantly, we have to look at ourselves and analyze our own privileges and disadvantages which I will discuss in this paper.

As someone who identifies as a multi-racial woman, I have found that my racial location in society has been different based on who I am around. I am of lighter skin, and I have acknowledged I am more privileged than a woman who is darker than me. As a multi-racial woman, I at times have had to make sure I fit in based on who I was surrounded by. I am aware that in ways I do benefit from white privilege, but in a lot of ways I am still put into the subordinate group by the dominate racial groups. I fully became aware of my racial identity as a child, going to a predominately white elementary school. After my encounters with some of the peers and teachers at this school, I became aware that I was “different”, and for the first time not feeling fully accepted into my peer groups.

To continue, every group has experienced some sort of privilege and oppression alike. Privilege in this case is defined as, “a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor” (Meriam-Webster, 2017) and oppression is defined as “the social act of place severe restrictions on an individual, group, or institution.” (Barker, 2014) In my life as a Caucasian female living in the United States I have experienced both privilege and oppression. The privilege that I’ve experienced is part of the fact that I live in the United States. I have lived in a nice house always with food on the table, never worrying about whether or not my parents would be able to feed or dress, neither was I worried about them being able to pay the bills. While in other countries such as Guatemala, there are children who grow up doing homework in candlelight, and with only a couple pairs of clothes. This is only one part of the equation though, I have also experienced oppression. Not in the way that many people think as oppression but in my own way. As a female I still am thought of as weaker by some of the males that I work with even though I have been with the company longer than they have. Also, as a Caucasian I have had random Hispanic as well as African-American people come up to me just to ask me why I am against them. Even though I may not know them and have never been a part of any of the attacks on either of those groups, they still came up just because of the color of my skin

Oppression and privilege are interlocked and can impact the lives of people in every aspect. People often make assumptions about who you are based on the way you look, the clothes you wear, where you live and even the car you drive. My work as a social worker can be impacted by the social construction of gender and race as it interacts with my place in society as a “oppressed” individual.