Summary Of Iris Young's Five Faces Of Oppression

Throughout this course, we learned that women’s studies originated as a concern at the time that “women and men noticed the absence, misrepresentation, and trivialization of women [in addition to] the ways women were systematically excluded from many positions of power and authority” (Shaw, Lee 1). In the past, men had more privileges than women. Women have battled for centuries against certain patterns of inadequacy that all women experience. Every culture and customs has divergent female

Women and men are born equal. However, females are receiving unequal judgement and unfair treatment in the society, and thus Marilyn Frye brings up the notion of “oppression”, claiming that women are oppressed. Throughout the essay, I will first give the definition of Frye’s oppression and then list 5 critical qualifications to be considered oppressed. After that, I will explain my appreciation on Frye’s perspective on elaborating oppression using the “bird cage” analogy. I will support Frye’s “double-bind” argument for sexism followed by flaws in the argument. Furthermore, I will point out some social group are mistakenly placed inside or outside the parameters of oppression, once the theory of oppression extends over other marginal groups.

explicitly explains that there are five specific factors of oppression that affect many people in their day to day lives. Those five faces are exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence. Exploitation is the act towards the usage of labor of a specific social group to benefit another group. Marginalization is commonly the exclusion of people of a third world such as racially marked groups, unemployed, disabled, elderly, etc. Powerlessness is the concept how people of power often profit from the labor of others. Cultural imperialism is the idea of a dominant group becoming a norm of society thus making non-dominant groups behaviors as

The Subjection of Women looks at the society and its struggles in adjusting to an environment where women are treated equally. John Stuart Mill’s approach to changing society comes from the viewpoint that after many years of submission and discrimination, women should be treated equally. This conclusion comes from a reflection on past classes of people that were similarly oppressed. Mill looks at similar situations throughout history where one certain group was dominant over another submissive group such as free vs. slave, white vs. black, etc. Mill states “but if the principle is true, we ought to act as if we believed it, and not to ordain that to be born a girl instead of a boy, any more than to be born black instead of white, or a

What defines power in today’s society? Is it money? Privilege? Status? In Chapter 2 of Justice And The Politics of Difference, entitled “The Five Faces of Oppression,” Iris Marion Young offers a unique perspective on what power really is in modern day society and how oppression plays a role in it. According to Young, power is the result of having a concrete societal position that grants you respect and opportunities from people (A page would be nice right here.). However, Young argues that this “power” is so reliant upon your perceived status and worth from individuals, that if lacking these things, you then become vulnerable to oppression. Oppression

The use of slavery throughout history has been used to systemically oppress both genders by denying them their human rights and subjecting them to a life of servitude as a piece of someone else’s property. Even though both sexes experienced the mistreatment and cruelty of slavery, a women fate's in the slave system can be deemed far worse than a man’s. Areas in history such as Sub-Saharan Africa, North America and the Caribbean are a few instances where this oppressive system to control women as commodities can be seen. Sexism and gender roles enforced by both men and women under the institution of slavery was used to oppress women on a socio-economic, and inhumane level.

Mill makes a very strong argument that the position women have in society is not the only possible way to structure societal hierarchy. The reason it seems unnatural to change its structure, he claims, is because it is uncustomary.

Women all over the world have been mistreated for more than a century. It has been exploited throughout the world as how “women aren’t currently treated the same as men in certain situations” but it is far more beyond that. Only half of the world seems to at least know what is really happening behind the curtain. Ambiguous people have manipulated the very much realness with what is exactly taking place in our society. In this essay, I will be talking about the following things; Inequity in the workplace, “Asking for it”, Violence against women globally, Education, and The psychology of it all. These five topics need to be demanded attention. Our younger generation needs to be cognizant of what has been going on for many millenniums. Girls and women should be able to walk around at night and not be afraid, nor should they be afraid to oppose another man. There is no real justification on why women should be treated like this but there is plenty of justification on why they shouldn 't, so genuinely why is this problem happening? Some of the books that I read to have mostly validation on this paper from other human beings but also to enlighten myself even more that I already am. “Subjection of Women” by John Stuart Mill, “Created Equal: Voices on Women 's Rights” by Anna Horsbrugh-Porter, and “Equal Pay for Equal Work” by Grace C. Strachan. I chose these three texts because each one yet talks about the same thing but has a little bit of a different perspective on each. I

The perception of inequality was evident in the colonial Spanish America, man belief that women were lacked in capacity to reason as soundly as men. A normal day for European women in the new world was generally characterized by male domination, for example marriage was arranged by the fathers, women never go out except to go church, women didn’t have the right to express their opinions about politic or society issues. Subsequent to all these bad treats European women try to find different ways to escape from man domination and demonstrate their intellectual capacities, for example women used become part of a convent, write in secret their desires and disappointments, and even dress as man to

Oppression is a widely debated subject. With different people taking different viewpoints on the concept it is hard to have a common ground. Iris young combates this issue by writing Five Faces of Oppression, a piece of work in which Young explains how oppression should be viewed. In her work she references several groups she says are the focus point of oppression. She leaves out anything in relation to college students, however, I say as a college student I have experienced oppression that fits Young's concept. Specifically in regards to the subsets which relate to the social division of labor, or in other words: exploitation, powerlessness, and marginalization.

Iris Marion Young starts her chapter “Five Faces of Oppression” with an epigraph by Simone Weil. An epigraph is a literary device in the form of a poem, quotation or even sentences that belong to another writer. There are many reasons why authors use an epigraph such as to introduce a topic, use as a summary or even to draw comparisons. The epigraph that Young uses rhetorically opens up her dialogue in her chapter by setting the tone, helping her readers to see things in the way she wants to explain her point of view. The epigraph can also be interpreted as a rhetorical function to the film American History X. It helps the audience to understand why the characters behave the way they do in the film.

“Five Faces of Oppression” by Iris M. Young tries to create an idea that we can critique the reality and stages of oppression of different groups. She argues that oppression is structural in the sense that injustices arise from systematic everyday activities, and not from policies or how people act. Since oppression is systematically reproduced and thus ingrained into culture, politics and economics, therefore it cannot be simply removed from our society. She separates the condition of oppression into five different forms: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence. Young states that exploitation is where oppression occurs in the transfer of one social group’s products of labor to benefit the wealthier class. She also argues that women are also exploited to through this from of

Furthermore, women are often seen as a symbol of cultural preservation and a measure of family honor. In conditions of war and colonial rule, which represents an attack on men’s honor and dignity, attention to women’s roles as prescribed by cultural tradition is often intensified. However, the unusual conditions of war and resistance to colonial rule also may provide openings for women to reconfigure their roles and rights, based on new needs of society.

Throughout history women have been overlooked and left in the shadows of the powerful men who controlled them. In Pre-Colonial time being oppressed, beaten, and raped was a method to train women to be domesticated. During the epoch of industrialization women in lower class societies would prove to be essential for the economic growth of America. Chapter 6 THE INTIMATELY OPPRESSED by Howard Zinn points out important distinctions between societies that seem to make women subservient in their roles as wives. In fact, he states “the very invisibility of women” and how they suffered double oppression as both slaves and women, is a sign of their submerged status. He also restates the Native Indian communal

Throughout history, women were “conditioned” to believe that it was their duty to be obedient to men. That it was their “nature to live for others….and to have no life but their [men’s] affections” (Mill, 1995, pg.16). Thus, it seemed natural that women were to be subservient to the needs of the men in their lives. They gave up their lives in order to serve and be accepted by them. Mill, however, claims that this was not the case. The subjection of women was not brought upon by natural development, but rather, through customary power relationships that went on to become institutionalized in the same way that slavery was.