What Can You Do To Improve –isms?

1. What Can You Do To Improve –isms? “the true focus of evolutionary change is never merely the oppressive situations which we seek to escape, but that piece of the oppressor which is planted deep within each of us” (233) Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider

2. Just Say No to Oppression Olympics • 1 – How are relationships of domination and subordination structured and maintained in the American political economy? • 2 – How do race, class, and gender function as parallel and interlocking systems that shape this basic relationship of domination and subordination?

3. Multiple systems of oppression • Need new visions of what oppression is • analysis that are inclusive of race, class, and gender as distinctive yet interlocking structures of oppression • Intersections or interlocking • (do not act independently from other) • Examine our own personal experiences within the relationship of domination and subordination • Primary site for social change = the self & the relationships we have with those around us

4. Dimensions to Understanding Oppression • Institutional dimension of oppression • Schools, business, hospitals, the work place, and government agencies • Institutions of American society discriminate, whether by design or by accident (237) • The symbolic dimension of oppression • Socially sanctioned ideologies = use stereotypes of diverse race, class, and gender groups. • Maintains systems of domination and subordination • The individual dimension of oppression • Institutional treatment and symbolic meanings shape your experience

5. Moving Forward • Differences in Power and Privilege a. Each of us lives within a system that vests us with varying levels of power and privilege (structured along axes of race, class, gender, age, or sexual orientation) b. The privileged = voyeurism • Coalitions around Common Causes a. What are the real reasons for coalition? b. “We must support each other’s efforts, realizing that they are all part of the larger enterprise of bringing about social change” (247) • Building Empathy a. the issue of individual accountability b. Develop empathy for the experiences of individuals and groups different from us (247). c. Building empathy is difficult (privileged groups & subordinate groups)

6. Dismantling Privilege & Becoming An Activist • We must understand oppression and privilege from an intersectional perspective. • “matrix dominance” – Patricia Hill Collins • Recognize the importance of examining both privilege and oppression • Intersectional • Social constructionist • Inclusive • Inequality is institutional • Recognizes inequality as hurtful to all • Encourages ongoing self-examination • Proactive focus on social change • Ally vs. activist

7. Mapping Your Subject Positionality • Applying the Institutional and Symbolic dimensions of oppression, map out your own personal biography. • What forces have shaped your current state of being? • How are you both a product of institutional and symbolic oppression? • How are you privileged and where do you see the seed implanted in you?