OPPRESSION AND

LIBERATION
PRESENTED BY:
FATHIMATH SANAA KK
3rd Sem M. Sc. Counselling Psychology
 Concepts of liberation and oppression

Oppression: Initial Definition

CONTENT Oppression Multiple Ecological levels

The Liberation Perspective: A Call to an

Action

Contributions and Limitations of the

Liberation Perspective
 Concepts of liberation
and oppression
Consider these facts about U.S. society:

• Women who worked full-time in 2008 earned only 80% of the

income of men who worked full-time.

• Median household income in 2008 for Whites was $55,530, for

Hispanics was $37,913 (68% of the White median), and for

• The rate of child poverty in the United States is higher than in 16 developed countries.

• Growing up in sustained poverty places children at higher risk of many problems and

illnesses. Many low-income families are resilient, but they face daunting money-related

challenges.

These and similar differences among persons and families do not result from cultural

factors. They are better understood in terms of power and access to resources. To

understand such differences, concepts of liberation and oppression are needed

 OPPRESSION: INITIAL DEFINITION

• Oppression occurs in a hierarchical relationship in which a dominant group unjustly holds

power and resources and withholds them from another group

• The more powerful group is termed the dominant or privileged group; the less powerful is the

oppressed or subordinated group. Oppressive hierarchies are often based on ascribed

characteristics fixed at birth or otherwise outside personal control (e.g., gender or race).
• Resources controlled by a dominant or privileged group may include economic

resources, status and influence, sociopolitical power, interpersonal connections among

elites, the power to frame discussion of conflicts (often exerted through media and

educational systems), representation in political and corporate offices, and even

inequalities in marriage and personal relationships. Perhaps most insidious are

ideologies and myths to convince members of subordinated groups that they actually

are inferior. This sense of inferiority is termed internalized oppression.

• Oppressive systems have long historical roots. Those systems, not individuals

currently living within them, are the sources of injustice.

• In complex societies, multiple forms of oppression exist. Steele (1997) summarized

evidence that in the United States, even the best African American students are

affected by racial stereotypes and even the most mathematically talented women are

similarly affected by stereotypes about women’s mathematical ability.

 OPPRESSION: MULTIPLE ECOLOGICAL
LEVEL

• “Breathing Smog”: Social Myths

Oppressive hierarchies are sustained in part by widely accepted myths that rationalize them.

Blaming the victims of macrosystem economic forces is one example. As a result, members

of dominant groups and even subordinated groups often fail to recognize how systems of

oppression are creating injustices.

Tatum (1997) likened this process to “breathing smog.” After a while, one does not notice

it; the air seems natural.

In fact, an oppressive system often works best when a few members of an oppressed group

break through to enjoy the privileges of the dominant group. They may be tokens accepted

only to improve public relations, or perhaps they are the best at assimilating the values and

behaviors of the dominant class.

Research shows that these token individuals are often placed in a bind—being held to

higher performance standards than members of the privileged group

• The Role of Mass Media

Print media, television, movies, radio, and the

Internet comprise a very influential macrosystem.

The presence and status of women, persons of color,

and other oppressed groups have increased in U.S.

mass media in the last half century.

Yet mass media continue to provide misleading

images of oppressed populations.

• Institutional Oppression: Workplaces

Organizational policies can have discriminatory effects, even when administered by

well-meaning individuals.

For example, reliance on standardized test scores in college admissions can exclude

otherwise promising students of color and those who are economically disadvantaged.

Many social-psychological studies show that individuals who believe themselves free

of prejudice nonetheless can behave in discriminatory ways

1. Standardized Testing: Reliance on test scores in college admissions can disadvantage students of color

and those from low-income backgrounds.

2. Barriers for Women: In mixed-gender settings, assertive women often face backlash and are viewed

negatively compared to their male counterparts, despite similar performance.

3. Hiring Discrimination: Pager's study found that White applicants, even with felony records, received

more job offers than Black applicants without criminal records, illustrating racial bias.

4. Institutional Prejudice: Many individuals may not recognize their biases, showing that discrimination is

often rooted in societal structures rather than just individual attitudes.

These points emphasize the need for addressing structural inequities in the workplace.
• Institutional Oppression: Schools

In the United States, schools are often believed to be the pathway to racial integration and to

upward economic mobility.. For some, this is true. But they often simply perpetuate existing

race and class difference.

One reason is residential racial segregation.

In addition, reliance on local funding of schools and great disparities of wealth

between school districts create much richer opportunities for some students than

others.

Within schools, tracking of students, largely based on test scores, shunts students of

color and those from lower-income families disproportionately into lower-quality

classes that do not prepare them for college or competitive jobs.

Further, teachers and schools may not adequately consider many students’ and their

families in terms of the knowledge and resources they bring to the classroom
• Intergroup Relations and Individual Prejudices

Research on intergroup relations in social psychology

demonstrates that as humans, we often hold positive attitudes

about our in-group (who we see as similar to ourselves) while

stereotyping and even holding prejudices about out-group

members. This is an important insight for community

psychology, as it reminds us that we are likely to approach a

problem and attempt to solve it with an ethnocentric

understanding or definition of the problem, believing that our

own way is best.

THE LIBERATION PERSPECTIVE: A
CALL TO ACTION

• The liberation perspective is not just an intellectual analysis; it is a call to action.

• It explains injustices and names an opponent: the oppressive system. It also

provides an orientation for something positive to work toward.

• The aim is to change the system, to emancipate both the privileged and the

oppressed.
• First-order change in this context would mean the currently oppressed group simply

replaces the currently privileged group in power—a reshuffling within the oppressive

system.

• Second-order change dismantles the oppressive system and its inequalities. That is the aim

of liberation.

• Members of subordinated groups usually understand the system of oppression better than

those who are privileged by it. Frequent participation in relationships where one is

privileged dulls the awareness of the privileged person, making injustices seem natural. But

the same encounters can lead to insights by the subordinated.

• Paulo Friere (1970/1993), an important theorist of liberation, holds that three

resources are needed for dismantling oppression.

The first is critical awareness and understanding of the oppressive system.

Second is involvement and leadership from members of the subordinated group.

Third is collective action; solely individual actions are difficult to sustain against

powerful opposition.
 Assumption and Concepts of Liberation
Perspective
1. Oppression occurs in a hierarchical relationship in which a dominant group unjustly holds power and

resources and withholds them from another group.

2. The more powerful group is the dominant or privileged group; the less powerful is the oppressed or

subordinated group. A person’s group membership is often determined by birth or other factors beyond

one’s personal control.

3. Resources controlled by a dominant group may include economic resources, status and influence,

sociopolitical power, interpersonal connections, and the power to frame public discussion of issues.
4. The oppressive system grants unearned privileges to members of the dominant group—

regardless of whether they recognize or consent to them.

5. The oppressed group resists oppression—directly or indirectly—with the power they

have.

6. Multiple forms of oppression exist. An individual may be privileged by one form of

oppression and subordinated by another.

7. Oppression involves multiple ecological levels: macrosystems, localities, organizations,

interpersonal relationships, and individual prejudices.

8. Social myths rationalize an oppressive system. Tatum (1997) likened this process

to “breathing smog”: After a while, the workings of the oppressive system seem

natural.

9. Because they experience its consequences directly, members of the oppressed

group often understand an oppressive system better than members of the dominant

group.

10. Any individual may have prejudices, but those of the dominant group are more

damaging because they interlock with the power of oppressive systems.

11. Liberation theory is a call to action to work collectively to dismantle oppressive

systems.

12. Oppression dehumanizes both oppressor and oppressed. To truly dismantle it,

those who oppose it must aim to liberate both the oppressed group and the

dominant group from the oppressive system

 Contribution and Limitation of Liberation
Perspective
• Liberation concepts call attention to the workings of power—often obscured in a cultural
perspective.

• A liberation perspective orients community psychology practice to challenge oppressive

conditions and to emphasize and support the capacities for oppressed people to take action
against problematic conditions that hinder their well-being.

• A liberation perspective helps community psychology work toward its values of social
justice, empowerment, collaboration and focus on strengths, and fostering individual and
collective well-being.
• A potential limitation of the liberation perspective is that by emphasizing the

different positions of privileged and subordinated groups, it may underestimate

the diversity within each of those groups.

• A second possible limitation is that in its emphasis on social systems, liberation

theory can portray members of subordinated groups merely as victims, unless

their cultural strengths and resistance to oppression are explicitly recognized.

• A third challenge can arise when liberation concepts are used in action.

Oppression creates conflict between dominant and subordinated groups.

• That conflict is often based on real, undeniable injustices. Yet the ideal of

liberating both the oppressor and the oppressed may be difficult to sustain in the

heat of that conflict. Discussion may be dominated by blaming of individuals or

groups rather than blaming social myths and practices. Intergroup conflict

research shows that addressing these obstacles requires commitment to developing

shared goals and to addressing injustice (Jones, 1997). The long-term value of

liberation concepts lies in how well they lead to Friere’s (1970/1993), vision of

liberating both oppressor and oppressed.

 REFERENCE

Kloos, B., Hill, J., Thomas, E., Wandersman, A., Elias, M. J., & Dalton, J. H.

(2012). Community Psychology: Linking Individuals and Communities (3rd

ed.). USA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

THANK YOU