What Is Cultural Oppression?

Before considering oppression in general, we must first note that people and institutions who hold power oftentimes use this power to oppress others.

oppressors and it is not possible for them to understand the oppressed community and their

The Repressive State Apparatuses, RSAs, control and enforce certain ideologies and laws of societies through the Head of State, government, the police, the army, and courts. In Brazilian slave-society, the ruling class that consisted of slave-owners and white elites controlled the RSAs because they possessed some State power. Hence, if a group, possibly slaves and abolitionists, were to challenge the dominant order, the ruling class could wield RSAs to suppress the attack either through the system of law and court or through more violent means such as incarceration, police, and military force. On the other hand, Ideological State Apparatuses, ISAs, enforce the dominant ideology and accepted facts of society through private domains and institutions, such as schools and universities, church, mass media, family, and culture. Instead of enforcing ideology through fear of punishment, ISAs enforce the dominant ideology through people’s fear of public disapproval. If a group were to deviate from the norm, the dominant ideology, then the group could face unwanted social ridicule. Hence, “All ISAs, whatever they are, contribute to the same result: the reproduction of the relations of production” (Althusser 117). By utilizing both RSAs and ISAs, the ruling class can continually reproduce the

Imagine yourself being in a crowded room and your hands and feet are in shackles. There are a variety of noises surrounding you from cries, weeps and screaming. How did you get here? Then, you open your eyes only to realize that it was a dream, or was it? They are enslaved in their mind. Pressured to purchase and live the same lifestyle according to everyone else’s opinions. Have you ever wanted to dress a certain way but deciding against it because of the criticism that might receive from wearing it? People’s judgements seem to be the deciding factor in how a lot of decisions are made today.

Slavery, there are an estimated 20-30 million people enslaved today (dosomething.org). There are different kinds of slavery including but not limited to sex slavery, chattel slavery, child slavery, forced labor, bonded labor, and debt labor. Though the types of slavery can vary, the people have agreed that the definition of slavery is solid and simple; slavery is the act of holding a person in servitude to a dominating influence thereby restricting one’s freedoms and self-ownership. Slavery is one of the most controversial topics internationally. The biggest question that the nation is faced with is whether or not slavery is an evil institution or if the effects of slavery aren’t harmful enough therefore making it a benign institution. Slavery IS, by all means, an evil institution. Before one can jump into the tidbits of what makes slavery an evil institution, one must first discuss how one should define evil and benign in this situation.

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

Sadly, oppression is a common feature of power structures. It can be identified as a situation where an individual, group, society, culture or state, have power, be it economic, military or political, and exercise that power to disadvantage, and or overpower those who do not. Oppression means control and dominance and is observed in the form of discrimination practices based on gender, class, race, and culture that systematically produce inequalities. Today, oppression is present in the social, institutionalized, and economic domains throughout the world and is usually seen in conjunction with borders, both real and imagined, creating the lines that separate and distinguish between the oppressor and the oppressed.

When a central power comes in and dominates the surrounding land and people it is referred to as colonization. In some cases it can lead to a positive outcome but more so than not it has a negative repercussion. In “Heart of Darkness,” “The Powwow at the End of the World,” and “Heritage,” both the colonizer and the colonized experience negative consequences that force them to change their views on the world.

There was two FBI agent one who continued to make racism comments. He not only made comments about the criminal case also because he was black. He mention almost every crucifying remark he can make about black people. He used Cultural Racism when he constantly mention things about blacks. Cultural racism is a frame that relies on culturally based arguments such as ‘‘Mexicans do not put much emphasis on education’’ or ‘‘blacks have too many babies’’ to explain the standing of minorities in society. He act as if that black people are good for nothing people. He really shouldn’t place all blacks in the same category because all of us is not the same.

Experiences that natives had to deal with in the history with power hungry empires. From the start

Instead, it allows for the maintenance of the power structure as a result of the internalization of the oppressors’ beliefs. The oppressed then do their best to try and identify themselves with those who are in power. The more they identify with them, the more they believe in the values that the powerful espouse and the structures that are in fact used in order to keep the oppressed down (Pyke 556). The internalization of the structure of power results in attempts to push themselves away from their group, in attempts to “distance themselves from the negative stereotype;” there is also “intra-group othering allow[s] the oppressed to present themselves as the like the oppressors” (Pyke 557). The consequence of internalized racism is that it actually assists in reinforcing the existing power structures and allows for its continued

In today’s society systematic oppression has really been a factor regarding on the issues of minority groups. In our opinion, we feel like if Bill Cosby wasn’t a colored man suppose he was a white man this case would have been a lot more lenient because people of color have them labeled as bad people. People who kill, rape, sell drugs etc. and white people that sometimes are the worst, always they treat white people with like more finesse of have more them respect. At this time the colored people not only suffer from racism, but also immigrants from different countries are suffering a lot of racism. Another example of systematic oppression is about Bill Cosby accused of raping women was harshly accused and especially for being black.

I found not having exposure to your own culture interesting as it leads them not to show their true reflection. Some deaf children are denied information about their own history, language and culture and some may be forbidden to acknowledge it.

This research paper will outline the causes and traits of oppression in America. Dynamics such as the social, historical, and psychological systems that serve as vessels of oppression will be addressed. Using academic research, the goal for this essay will be to discuss the characteristics of oppression and how those characteristics are connected to its origin. The research will develop major themes that will serve to define agents, including classism, discrimination, and the intersectionality of different types of oppression. Discussions on strategies for addressing and ending the current oppression in America and recommendations for the future will be highlighted as well.

One major link includes the fight between an oppressed group and their persecutors. Whether it’s the proletariat and the bourgeois in “The Communist Manifesto,” or the inequality of genders in “The Second Sex,” or the flight of the African Americans in the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. In all of these texts we are shown how easy it is for one group to abuse their power and create unfair rules and regulations only imposed on the more inferior members of society. Each group of oppressor thrives off of alienating, and subjugating their inferiors.