5 Faces of Oppression - Young

Justice - refers to both distribution, as well as to the institutional conditions necessary for
the development and exercise of individual capacities and collective communication and
cooperation.
Under this conception of justice, injustice refers to 2 disabling constraints
1. Oppression
2. Domination
Divides the condition of oppression into four forms: (1) exploitation, (2) marginalization,
(3) powerlessness, (4) cultural imperialism, and (5) violence.
A current meaning for the term oppression refers to the disadvantage and injustice that
some people suffer because of the everyday practices of a well-intentioned liberal society.
Thus, oppression can be seen as a structural in the sense these injustices
arise from systematic everyday life processes, and not from some peoples acts or
policies.
And precisely because oppression is systematically reproduced and thus
ingrained in political, economic and cultural institutions, that it cannot be easily
eliminated.
The 5 forms of oppression adequately describe the oppression of any group, not those
necessarily specified here - yet it is critical to define what a group is.
A social group is a collective of persons differentiated from at least one
other group by cultural forms, practices, or ways of life - groups only exist in relation to
other groups
Social processes also differentiate groups within a same society
A social group is not defined only by a shared set of attributes, but by a
shared identity
A groups oppression does not depend solely on its differentiation from
other groups, but whether it is subject to one or more of the 5 forms of oppression.
However, in order to have social group differentiation without
oppression, must conceptualize groups in a more relational and fluid way, as groups came
into being and may fade away
Exploitation:
Aims to address the reason of how can in a capitalist society, where everyone is free,
there be class domination and class differences.
The labor theory of value explains how the value of every commodity is a function of the
labor time necessary for its production, however, one commodity produces new value while it is
being consumed -> labor power. This surplus appropriated by the capitalist explains the
generation of profits.
As such, given that the capitalist ownership of the means of production, the powers and
capacities of the workers are transferred to the capitalists, accentuating the power of the latter and
diminishing the power of the former by more than the amount of the transfer.
Here, oppression happens in the transfer of the results of the labor of one social
group to the benefits of another

 Justice would require to eliminate the institutional forms that allow and foster this
process of transference of capacities, and establish institutional forms which enable all to develop
and fully use their capacities in a non-diminishing way
Additionally, the options of those oppresses are narrowed because the unequal exchange
occurs within coercive structures.
Similarly, female oppression consists in a systematic and non reciprocal transfer of
powers of women to men. This transfer gives freedom, power, status, and self realization to men,
and results in an inequality of status, power and wealth for women, as these are excluded from
privileged activities.
This gender exploitation occurs on two bases:
Transfer of the fruits of material labor to men, such that womens labor
benefits men without remuneration, and these tasks are rooted in a dependency relation
Transfer of womens nurturing and sexual energy to men (sex-affective
production), through which women give men sexual pleasure (norms of heterosexuality
are oriented towards male pleasure), and men and children emotional care (women they
have been socialized to be more attentive and empathic than men).
Marginalization:
Through marginalization, a groups are expelled from participation in social life, which
thereby potentially subjects them to material deprivation and even maybe extermination
2 forms of injustice associated with marginalization in capitalist societies:
The provision of welfare produces new injustices by depriving those
dependent on it from rights and freedoms others have
Even when the welfare state may help individuals from material
deprivation, marginalization blocks the opportunity to exercise capacities in socially
defined and recognized ways
Marginalization from equal citizenship rights occurs because people are dependent for
support on bureaucratic structures, which relegates and subjects to punitive arbitrary treatment
those old, poor, on physically or mentally disabled. This dependence on society predisposes
individuals to arbitrary and invasive authority of social service providers or other public agents.
The prevailing model of rights is a very individualistic one, which causes dependency to
be a context deprived of choice and respect, which leads to the oppression of many marginals.
Marginalization also involves the deprivation of cultural, practical, and institutional
conditions for exercising capacities in a context of recognition and interaction.
Powerlessness:
The labor of most people in society increases the power of only a few.
Professional labor involves exploitative transfer to capitalists, while they benefit from the
exploitation of nonprofessional workers.
Thus, the position professional workers have in the division of labor
favors them in relation to non professionals.
As such, non professionals suffer not only from exploitation but from
powerlessness.
The powerless are those whom over power is exercised, without them exercising it.

 This social position in the division of labor gives these individuals little opportunity to
develop and exercise skills (creativity or judgement in their work).
The powerless lack authority, status, and sense of self that professionals tend to have, and
this status has three aspects that generate oppression for non professionals
Being a professional usually requires a university education gaining a
specialized set of knowledge and skills.
Professionals experience progress by acquiring this
knowledge, and then through professional advancement and rise in status.
Conversely, non professionals lack the orientation
towards their progressive development of capacities, which makes them
powerless
Most professionals have day-to-day autonomy in their working and
consumer-client lives; while non professionals lack autonomy and both in their working
and consumer-client lives stand under the authority of professionals.
EX: both groups living in segregated neighborhoods,
having different tastes in food, style, and even health and educational needs.
This leads to members of each group to socialize mostly
with others within the same group, which reinforces this cycle.
The norms of respectability (way of life) in society are associated mainly
with the professional culture, as such, the forms of professionals (dress, speech, tastes)
connote respectability.
Thus, non professionals seeking aid (loans, jobs, make
purchases) are forced to look professional and respectable in such settings.
Cultural imperialism:
Cultural imperialism involves the universalization of the views from a dominant group in
society in terms of experiences and culture, and establishing them as the norm, while rendering
the views of a particular group invisible, and marking them out as other (paradoxical
oppression)
Consequently, the dominant cultural products of the society reflect the experience, values,
goals and achievements of those dominant groups.
Those culturally imperialized are patronized and stamped with an essence, and thus
defined by the outside (EX: women are good with children, indians are alcoholics, gay people are
promiscuous).
A double consciousness arises in those culturally imperialized because they find
themselves as being defined by two cultures: a dominant and a subordinate culture
Defined by the dominant culture because they share similar experiences
on social life
The injustice of cultural imperialism is that the oppressed groups experience and
interpretation of social life finds little expression in the dominant culture, while the same culture
imposes on the oppressed group its experience and interpretation of social life.
Violence:
May suffer from the oppression of systematic violence, given that they are constantly
under threat of random, unprovoked attacks on their persons or property.

 This violence takes form of sexual assault against women, violence against gay men and
lesbians, as well as harassment, intimidation, ridicule, or stigmatization of group members.
Ironically enough, theories of justice are silent about such acts of violence because they
are committed by individuals who are extremists, deviants, or mentally unsound.
Violence becomes a form of oppression not by the particular acts themselves, but mostly
because of the social context that surrounds them, which makes them possible and acceptable,
due to its existence as a social practice.
Group directed violence is institutionalized and systemic, such that institutions and social
practices encourage, tolerate, or enable the perpetration of violence against specific groups.
The oppression in violence consists in the daily knowledge shared by all members of the
oppressed groups that they are liable to violation. Knowingly living under a threat deprives them
from freedom and dignity, and expends their energy.
Cultural imperialism intersects with violence, such that violence can result when the
culturally imperialized reject to assert their subjection.