Social Psychology
April 15th 2012
Social Oppression in America
Social oppression is socially supported mistreatment and exploitation of a group or category of people by anyone. Oppressors usually suffer from the need to be Socially Dominant over others in order to retain power or assert power (Sidanius, Jim. Social Dominance: An Intergroup Theory of Social Hierarchy and Oppression. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001.). Social dominance is commonly the root cause of social oppression. The United States has always claimed the moral high ground on human rights and equality, yet our history is fettered with situations of discrimination and oppression of many different demographics. Our American culture is greatly diverse and
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Harper Collins Dictionary of Socialogy. New York: HarperPerennial, 1991). Homosexuality has been a taboo lifestyle in many societies for centuries yet has also been widely practiced. Recently many states have passed legislation recognizing gay and lesbian marriage. Some have been overturned after intense lobbying from religious groups and political parties. In December of 2010 the President signed the repeal of the don’t ask don’t tell law which banned Americans who live openly homosexual lifestyles from serving in the military. Now it is considered discrimination by the Department of defense to mistreat any military member for being homosexual. While this is a major milestone for Gay and lesbian civil rights there is still many more obstacles to overcome before true equality is achieved. Though military members can openly engage in a same sex relationship while serving, they are not afforded the same entitlements as heterosexual couples who are married. Even if homosexual couples are legally married in a state that sanctions their union, the department of defense will not recognize the same sex spouse as being a dependent or a next of kin in the event of the service member’s death. The same is true with most civilian sector employers and the government’s tax code, medical statutes, and criminal system. Beyond the
Social oppression is when one group of people dominate one or more groups of people and benefit from the unfairness and cruelty that is bestowed upon the subordinates (the people who are subjugated). Political oppression is similar to social oppression in the sense that it is when one group uses
Race and gender are two facets that inherently dominate individuals everyday lives. A person’s social environment, work environment, and educational environment is congruent to their race and gender. From birth, it has been set up that everyone is assigned to a label. A pink or blue blanket is swaddled around a newborn child and a box is checked signifying that child’s place in society. These two actions ultimately define how a child is to be viewed and treated. As children grow into young adults they either decide to stick with their original assignment, while others decide to deviate from it. These individuals deviation results in many of them being viewed harshly and looked down upon because they strayed from their social norms. This constant cycle of being classified and labeled from birth is the social institution of gender and race. These social institutions aid in the inequality that is present in society, and race and gender are shaped by this. However, if these social institutions were removed, race and gender could dissipate. This is due to the fact that race and gender are not real, but are socially constructed concepts used to organize the power, or dominance, within our society to one social group over the other groups.
Many homosexuals that served in the Military prior to 2015 had to hide who they were and their loved ones throughout their career. They were forbidden to get married and receive the same benefits as their heterosexual
The issue of gays in the military has been controversial in the United States for many decades. Over these decades there have been many different proposals as to what approach to take in order to handle the situation of homosexuals in the military. However, in 1992 when Bill Clinton was running for President of the United States, he made a promise to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military if he was elected (Washington Post). Bill Clinton followed through with his promise, and in December 1993 he instituted “a defense directive that military applicants should not to be asked about their sexual orientation” (Washington Post). This is now known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was the result
In America’s history, each race has been portrayed as inferior or inferior, because of one’s skin color, or the beliefs of a culture. Oppression In early America varied in some ethnicities. Some races didn’t even have any civil liberties at all, they were not allowed to vote, not even allowed to become professionals. This was to keep everyone that was not of the superior race below them. Even though they are classified as U.S citizens. In most areas, the ruling race is the upper white class that runs the system, and have a disproportionate amount of power. In other areas, it may not be the white race, but it is still the race that makes up the majority. The majority, who makes the laws, and/or has money, are keys to dominate over the weaker minorities that don’t have the
Thousands of immigrants moving to America during the turn of the nineteenth century have faced extreme diversity on their quests to fulfill their American dreams. Immigrants faced a multitude of hardships and battled prejudices that were rampant throughout America during this time period. However, for the most part, Hilda Polacheck, an immigrant emigrating from Poland made out fairly well in her life. Hilda experienced what it was truly like to be a poor working immigrant, however, she was able to break out of the poverty cycle and was determined to make the world a better place. With this success she was able to step back and look at the social injustices being committed in the United States clearly, without being blinded by the hardships and the tragedies of being a poor immigrant. Throughout Hilda’s Autobiography, as well as throughout history, an immigrant woman in the United States faced extensive discrimination as well as vast and often unjust limitations on their inalienable rights as citizens of the United States.
The ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy is a major policy of the armed forces of the United States, and allows a number of people to serve their country. This policy restricts the United States armed forces from discovering gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. The ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy has, in a way, limited homosexuals from completely fulfilling their military duties by forcing them to serve in the military silent about their personal lives. The policy is a violation of equal rights, forces homosexuals to violate the military code of honor, and causes disputes among fellow soldiers and should be repealed.
In the world, both rich and poor countries have got different forms of social injustices that their respective societies are going through. Briefly this paper will address social injustices in the United States and under the social injustices, the paper will focus more on Economy, health and society injustices. This will be approached with three questions; Firstly, why is it important for American people to know about social injustices in the States? Secondly, how has America’s social justice been violated and why? Lastly, what are some of the measures that the US government has taken to address the issue of social injustices, which include Unemployment, endless crimes and terrorism, social classes in American societies with different
People always praise our world is beautiful and peaceful, but they ignore the injustices still exist and some of them without good solutions. Although people believe social injustices are unfair and will bring pain and tear, they are used to treating them as air because they never experience these unequal things. Likewise, the discrimination occurs both in upper class and regular class between Puerto Ricans and Mexicans. For example, there was an obvious discrimination happened in the speech of the Republican nomination for president election. At that time, Donald Trump, who was one of the speakers, believed that force illegal immigrants repatriation can be the best way to make America great again. Because Mr. Trump recognized these immigrants only bring drugs and crimes to the U.S., and they occupied a large number of jobs which made the unemployment rate increasing currently. In addition, he said if he becomes the president, he will declared three principals and two of them can be social injustices. Firstly, America has to build a wall across the U.S.-Mexico border that stowaway cannot enter America illegally. Secondly, the laws must be fully enforced illegal immigrants to go back to Mexico. In addition, Mr. Tramp is not the only person who gets rise to injustices, but the social injustices and discrimination also happened in various aspects.
In 1999, more than 1,000 men and women were discharged from military service due to their sexuality. That number has actually decreased compared to recent years. (Suro NP) Homosexuals were purged from federal employment in 1950, with Bill Clinton updating that policy in 1993 by adding the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue” policy. (Deicher 176) This policy doesn’t work and needs to either be updated again or the ban against homosexuals lifted. Gays should be allowed to fight for the military for employment reasons, the right to fight for one’s country, and because they are no different from anyone else. The fact of the matter is that not even experts can argue in favor of keeping the
Though the concept of social injustice is universal in nature, the experience varies with each person. Factors like a person’ race, or gender can further influence the severity of the injustice; victims caught in the overlap between discriminations often go unrecognized by the law and society. Many people recognize the names Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice as African Americans who were murdered by local police. But names like Michelle Cusseaux, Tanish Anderson, and Meagan Hockaday often receive less feedback even though they are also murdered African Americans. The only distinction between the sets of names is gender. Even within racial injustice, discrimination is present between genders as some cases get national
Many individuals were highly gracious at this idea, no matter the negativity that surrounds this topic. When referencing to the article by the New York Times on Ashton Carter’s announcement, he states “Americans who want to serve and can meet our standards should be afforded the opportunity to compete to do so. After all, our all-volunteer force is built upon having the most qualified Americans” (Rosenberg, 2016). The article’s point of view perceives an appreciative tone towards the U.S. military members and how much they sacrifice. For their sacrifices, the government is willing to help formulate policies that can open doors to a new tolerance and acceptance towards sexual identity. Through my discovery of this change in policy, I realized how much this will help not only the individuals who are suffering from this condition but it will help the companionship of the military. I struggle with being completely open with my fellow service members because of the tension there was on the topic of sexual identity. After hearing the statements made by both the Secretary of Defense and the Defense Secretary, I felt like I am part of a whole different world now that there is an understanding of the struggles and tolls taken to maintain personal happiness in such a demanding career. Having higher authorities who are able to implement policies amongst the U.S. government who have vital points of views on this controversial
Over the years in our country’s history it has been apparent that the idea of same sex marriages is becoming much more popular, however in most states there is still one thing stopping them. That one thing stopping two people from the pursuit of happiness which they desire is a social injustice. Social injustices are situations where a person or group of people is treated unfairly due to certain factors for example discrimination, prejudice, racism, heterosexism, sexism, and so forth. In the case of same sex marriages, the factor playing a major role in this social injustice is where most people believe that opposite sexes attract, but in the case of a same sex couple wanting to be married, this brings about many topics to be discussed by
When will we stop being unjust? Our society today is full of problems and issues. We not only experience economic and politic issues, but we face social problems as well. One main problem that our society must acknowledge is injustice. However, many members of our society are blind not to recognize that permitting unjust and unfair acts is an actual injustice. They believe it’s appropriate to judge others, to make inappropriate comments and to be disrespectful.
In this country there is a flawed assumption that gay people enjoy the same civil right protections as everyone else and there are a lot of stereotypes about gay relationships. Living as a gay individual in this country can be extremely overwhelming and scary. When it comes to marriage between gay couples, controversy is bound to turn up. There are numerous arguments as to why gay marriage is not “right” such as; it offends everything religion stands for, marriage is for procreation, and gay