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Oppression and discrimination
Oppression and discrimination
Oppression and discrimination
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Today, society likes to pride itself on its acceptance and respect for people of all races, class, gender, sexuality, ability and religion. The notion of equality is frequently represented in all media platforms as well as institutional structures. Whether it is heard on the news, presented in a movie or a written in a public statement from a corporation, diversity is illustrated to play a part in every scene of contemporary culture. However, when critically observing society’s ideology of equality one cannot help but notice the premise of this notion has been formulated by a dominant representation. The ways in which parity is thought about, acted upon and showcased has been skillfully designed to institute the views of dominant culture. While …show more content…
Dominant culture has taken root in white supremacy designating an established language, value systems and social customs representing those of the norm, however, in the process exiling those of a different race, religion and gender. Sadly, though these mentalities concerning oppression originate early on within childhood. Dominant culture has shaped differences among society, yet has inflicted the mindset to ignore them, copy them and destroy all deemed to be subordinate (Lorde 115). As Lorde, points out “we have all been programmed to respond to human difference between us with fear and loathing” (115), but it this programming that has been curated by dominant sovereignty. The notion people are treated differently or unequal are illustrated to be bad because it goes against society’s fixation with the equal ideology, therefore should be ignored. However, it is this “refusal to recognize those differences and to examine the distortions” that has lead to this has led to the installment systematic oppression within society, consequently creating terrible barriers for those who are not part of the “norm” cannot surmount (Lorde 115). Society’s response to disregard inequality only continues to separate civilization as a whole and strengthens dominant culture as a
According to Brenda Allen in the chapter “Power Matters,” she mentions that there dominant ideologies of identity that “reflect perspectives and experiences of ruling groups, whose members construct and circulate beliefs that will most benefit them.” We live in a country where there are dominant ideologies of organizational hierarchy, which “arranges job positions in a stratified structure, with power flowing from the top down.” This exemplifies the ideology of domination, which is a belief system in America that the “superior should rule over the inferior” (32). This ideology is so embedded into our system that most people believe it is natural. The American society we live in values patriarchy, white supremacy, heteronormativity, and a specific culture of wealth and poverty; any identity that falls outside of these dominant ideologies is marginalized and placed in the lower strata of social power.
Oppression is not always brought on in a violent and oppositional way, it can take on a peaceful and silent form; however regardless of the way oppression is introduced, it maintains the same characteristics of “imposing belief systems, values, laws and ways of ...
concerns racial equality in America. The myth of the “Melting Pot” is a farce within American society, which hinders Americans from facing societal equality issues at hand. Only when America decides to face the truth, that society is not equal, and delve into the reasons why such equality is a dream instead of reality. Will society be able to tackle suc...
Temporary inequality exists as a means of “improving” a subordinate to the level of a dominant. After the period of inequality is over, the two view each other as equals. The other form of inequality, permanent inequality, exists solely because of an ascription of inferiority to a subordinate that is inherent and unchangeable. Unlike temporary inequality, there is no possibility of improvement for the subordinate; they are, in the eyes of the dominant, inferior and impossible to “fix.” The dominants, who view themselves naturally superior to the subordinates, begin to take advantage of the subordinates. “Out of the total range of human possibilities, the activities most highly valued in any particular culture will tend to be enclosed within the domain of the dominant group; less valued functions are relegated to the subordinates” (Rothenberg, 112). Moreover, the subordinates, who by this point are under the total control of the dominant group, may begin to internalize the value of the dominants. “[Subordinates’] incapacities are ascribed to innate defects or deficiencies of mind or body…More importantly, subordinates themselves can come to find it difficult to believe in their own ability” (112). This theory of domination and subordination are clearly mirrored in race relations in the United States. Whites, who are the dominant group, make all of the fallacious errors involved in race-based thinking; they are prone to, like Miller describes, hoarding superior roles in society and practicing systematic cruelty towards the subordinates due to their sincere belief that the subordinates are inherently incapable of rising to the level of the dominant. This internalized belief on the part of the dominants, that the subordinates
Our book opens us up to the world of diversity and inequality in the United States. It presses on issues about groups that hold superiority towards inferior groups for multiple reasons. In “Imagine our country” our book blatantly calls out America’s problems and how we in some cases are only increasing the chances of them continuing. It helps define the differences between racism and discrimination, which I never thought about enough to distinguish before taking this class. These chapters also offer hope and ways to combat these differences, because while we may be stuck in a social loop-hole there are available ways to challenge these and make society aware of changes and in act upon them!
The author argues that in order for oppression to be vitally explored, the factors that create oppression must be realized. Oppression gives material advantage to the oppressor. "All social relations have material consequences". The author argues that all identities must be considered interconnected.
Discrimination based on race, gender, class, and culture has been reoccurring since the beginning stages of mankind. Discrimination can derive from several different factors, whether sexual identity, race, gender, social-class as this paper demonstrated. The purpose of the paper was to discuss how discrimination was locked to institutional power between 1600s and 1990s, but even today discrimination is very prevalent and will continue to be, as the criminal justice system and the war on drugs acts as a form of discrimination towards people of color. Discrimination based on race, sexual ideologies and practices, and social class seem to still be very prevalent, while discrimination based on gender seems to have left the publics view.
Overall, minorities, especially females, carry many diverse social and economic struggles and barriers. Society remains constant in its male dominant and racial biases. These gender and racial stratifications are social norms and values that cripple society’s growth and must be broken. If the stigmas that limit female and racial equality do not halt, then women and monitories will forever reign beneath men and Whites and American will never truly be a land of the free and
This sense of difference provides a motive or rationale for using our power advantage to threaten the ethnoracial Other in ways that we would regard as cruel or unjust if applied to members of our own group. The possible consequences of this nexus of attitude. and action range from unofficial but pervasive social discrimination at one end. of the spectrum to genocide at the other. . .
In the article The Clash of Cultures, William Cronon and Richard White delve into “the interrelations between people and their environment,” (11) specifically, between the American Indians and the Europeans and the Americas. The reason Cronon and White wrote this article was, “In part, a result of our current concern with pollution and the exhaustion of valuable natural resources, but it has also proved to be a valuable way of learning more about how people of past generations and different cultures dealt with nature and with one another.” (11)
We live in a world full of many societal issues. The aspects that determine whether one will have a successful or unsuccessful life is due to their characteristics such as race, gender, and social status. In the book Is Everyone Really Equal, Ozlem Sensoy and Robin DiAngelo’s exigence is to express the following issues and to encourage the reader to work upon changing the world through social injustice, oppression, power, and community.
“Social Equality” by Gunnar Myrdal speaks of the issues of social equality and how an equal so...
Equality is about an individual’s rights, giving people choices and respect. It is about ‘creating a fairer society, where everyone can participate and has the opportunity to fulfil their potential’ (DoH, 2004).
Thompson, N. (2003) Promoting Equality – Challenging Discrimination & Oppression. 2nd Edition. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
'Hegemony' meaning is like leadership, and social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group. Media is one of the key institutions that perpetuates hegemony, influencing mass consumers to unconsciously accept notions of inequality. There must be thousands of commercials that illustrate patterns of hegemonic culture. Cultural hegemony gives good things or bad things to other countries because cultural hegemony destroys the other country culture. Accept good thing adds traditional culture of the own country. It means that if accept cultural hegemony, accept country losing their own culture. For example,