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Group Identities Across Relations of Power 103 As you read down the table, you will probably find yourself in both dominant and minoritized group positions (i.e., falling sometimes on the left side and sometimes on the right side of the oppression column). One is not simply a man, but a cisgender man, a White man, […]

ethnic oppression. Our intention is not to deny the reality of these forms of oppression but rather to provide a starting point for those new to the recognition of group membership and social positionality. All major social group categories (such as gender) are organized into binary, either/or identities (e.g., men/women). These identities depend upon their

Social Stratification In Chapter 3 we discussed how individuals belong to various social groups. For the purposes of understanding socialization, we described how important it is for individuals to recognize the significance of these social groupings. For the purposes of understanding oppression, we must also understand that these groups are given different value in our

What Is Oppression? To oppress is to hold down—to press—and deny a social group full access and potential in a given society. Oppression describes a set of policies, practices, traditions, norms, definitions, and explanations (discourses), which function to systematically exploit one social group to the benefit of another social group. The group that benefits from

Oppression and Power “You can only be oppressed if you let yourself be oppressed.” This chapter introduces the concept of power, which transforms group prejudice into oppression. We explain the difference between concepts such as “race prejudice” (which anyone can hold) and “racism,” which only the dominant racial group can impose. The chapter introduces the

Extension Activities 1. Generate a list of actions (verbs) and personality attributes (characteristics) that people in various occupations perform and have. For example: Teacher Environmentalist Police officer Dentist Soldier Counselor Librarian Stay-at-home parent Scientist Housekeeper Farmer Car wash attendant What is the picture in your mind that you have of the person who holds that

According to the authors, all people have prejudice and all people act (discriminate) based on their prejudices Discussion Questions 1. According to the authors, all people have prejudice and all people act (discriminate) based on their prejudices. Explain this process. 2. What is necessary in order to minimize the effects of our (discriminatory) actions based

All Humans Have Prejudice and Discriminate Just as all people have prejudices, learned from socialization, all people discriminate. So, the blind woman in our previous example may also have prejudices against us because we are sighted. Based on her previous experiences with sighted people, she may assume that we are ignorant about people with disabilities

What is Discrimination? The term discrimination has multiple meanings, including having discriminating (or refined) taste in music or food. In critical social justice studies, we use it to refer to action based on prejudices toward social others. How we think about groups of people determines how we act toward them; Discrimination occurs when we act

What is Prejudice? This vignette illustrates some of the many complicated dimensions associated with critical social justice. While most people want to be fair, we can’t help but have preconceived notions—prejudices—about other people based on their social groups (in this case, the candidate’s gender). At the same time, we often feel deeply hurt and insulted