Power And Discrimination : Social Inequality

It may be said that the institution of power has always been a prevalent force in our

Privilege and oppression provides a framework for understanding how institutional structures and ideologies shapes individual experiences. Privilege and oppression also explains “how power operates in society” which led to the formation of “a dominant group and a marginalized group” (Launius and Hassel, Threshold Concepts, 72-73). “Oppression can be defined as prejudice and discrimination directed toward a group and perpetuated by the ideologies and practices of multiple social institutions” (Launius and Hassel, Threshold Concepts, 73). While, privilege refers to the “benefits, advantages, and power that accrue to members of a dominant group as a result of the oppression of marginalized group”,

In the mid 1900’s, different parts of society struggled with power due to the idea of racial supremacy. The idea of a superior race lead to the racial oppression of blacks, which had deep and lasting effects on society. This can be seen in Native Son by Richard Wright. During this time, power was heavily dependent on race: a concept Bigger Thomas struggled with throughout the entire novel. This can be seen on Bigger’s journey to understand and grasp for power, and the lasting effects of racial oppression on not only himself, but the black community as a whole.

Often time power can be understood as control of material resources and wealth, control of politics and the institutions that make up society (Hutchison,2015). It is important to recognize and identify the core concepts of power or lack of power with individuals in society. The conflict theory allows examination within the text of those who hold power and lack power. The end result of power to hold dominance over another person, group, or society. As a result of the control and power is causes those who lack power to be devalued or alienated from a setting or even society (Hutchinson, 2015).

“Power relationships are shaped by people’s mental biases and beliefs about individuals in other groups” (pg. 108 Social Inequality). Despite the creation of new groups,

In systems of oppression, power accrues to those who most closely approximates the mythical norm in the US which include: male, white, heterosexual, financially stable, young-middle adult, able-bodied, and Christian. Power is typically defined as the ability to coerce another’s behavior and also includes access to social, political, and economic resources. Power can bring unequal distribution of tasks and rewards such as starting salary, resources, such as time off for research or start-up funds/travel funds, research assistance, and service expectations. Unfortunately, I do not know what it is to have power and quite frankly, I may not ever know because of my race and cultural background.

Aristotle once said “The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.”

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?

A world of system designed to keep people in unjust and unequal positions is held in place by several interrelated expression of "power over": political power, economic power, physical force, and ideological power (Bishop, 1994: 36). So, we can say power is defined as a possession of control, authority or influence over others. In terms of power of dominant groups over subordinate groups, we define power as domination of one group of people over another in major important spheres of life. Power inequities have been in existence throughout the history of humanity and the ways of manifestation evolved from extreme overt oppression to subtle, covert oppression. Three major forms of power inequalities discussed in this paper are

The aim of this essay is to address the problem of inequality and oppression through three separate texts, The Second Sex, The Death of the Profane and Killing Rage. The Second Sex focuses on the woman and her role compared to man. The Death of the Profane and Killing Rage are both texts that describe experiences about the constant racism felt by blacks. To thoroughly examine these texts and how they are related to oppression and inequality it is important to first define what each mean. Oppression and inequality each have different definitions but they go hand in hand. Oppression is the state of being subject to prolonged unjust treatment. While inequality is defined as lacking equality, equality is the state of being equal especially in status,

Inequality in the society has been an issue since the history of the universe and as we think we are bridging the gap between the rich and the poor we always find out that it is as a wide as it was. The poor will always exist in the society as the inferior group while the rich are the superiors who control various aspects and sectors of the society.

Max Weber is renowned as one of the founding fathers to modern sociology. He defined power as being, ‘the ability of an individual or group to achieve their own goals or aims when others are trying to prevent them from realizing them’ (Weber 1925b/1978:926). His concept of power unfolds continuously as he breaks down power into two categories, coercive and authoritative. Coercive power is where an individual exercises power through the use of force. This is in contrast to authoritative where power is seen as legitimate. Legitimate because those exercising power do so

Nowadays, with increasing variety in organizations, several inequalities in the workplace have happened. In spite of the regulation policies which have limited inequalities on the workplace, it still exists, because of personal characteristics, such as gender, age and different race (Allan, C & Mcphail, R & Wilkinson, A 2008, p. 225). Inequality in the workplaces can be defined as the unfair discrimination relating to things, such as wage differentials between men and women, unfair practices and unfairness opportunities, particularly with regard to employment of people of different ethnic origins (Grainge, 2007, online). C2E TODAY (Committed 2 Equality) shows that in spite of large UK companies declaring that they have eliminated inequalities in the workplace around 77 per cent of them have little or no equality practices. Even though small companies’ situation is more serious, 97.5 per cent of them have no equality practices in place (Committed 2 Equality, 2008, online). This paper will analyze several inequalities exist on the workplace with the use of real facts for concentrating on gender, age and race, and demonstrate the role of the participants within employments relations by discussing the responses from the state, employers and unions.

In briefly evaluating the classical and modern explanations of social inequality, it is essential that we step outside the realm of our own lives, class position, and discard any assumptions we might have about the nature of inequality. This process of critical pedagogy allows us to view our world, not from our perspective, but from a wider, more critical analysis of inequality's nature. Also, it should be considered within this wider perspective that all theories of inequality have a class perspective, where the theorist, based on the position their theory takes, is making claims from (or for) a particular class (whether they want to or not). With this in mind, it seems that most of these theories come

Power and privilege: “How and why is a social group represented in a particular way?