Five Faces of Oppression Reading Summary
Iris Marion Young’s discusses oppression coming in five faces: Exploitation, marginalization, cultural imperialism, powerlessness, and violence. In these five categories, she conveys the individuals’ reactions to the social groups and hence how the social constructs affect and shape the individual.
In the beginning of the paper Young describes how people identify with a group because of how others’ identify with them in that particular group. A person can change and switch groups, however the group will represent them and there will be a stereotype or group norms associated. In a society there are groups that are treated more poorly than others. This treatment does not spring from individuals rather from the social structure. This subsequently leads to oppression with individuals who identify with the minor group. The individual is largely shaped by this group affiliation.
Cultural imperialism plays a big role in shaping the individuals in a group. Young addresses how a dominant group has the power to completely change the perspective of the individual’s view of their group. The major group can shape what is thought of as normal and can stereotype any group. This stereotyping can cause oppression to the individual and the notion of invisibleness because they are being defined from outside forces that don’t have the groups or the individual’s best interests in mind. A pivotal example of the individual being affected by the group is the concept of “double consciousness” as termed by W.E.B. Du Bois. This means an individual viewing themselves in terms of how the outside views them. Double consciousness happens with the minor group members because the majority group has the power to call them inferior. Therefore if an individual is in the minor group, they are almost helpless towards these judgments being invoked upon them and that they are invoking on themselves.
Violence shapes an individual in a group because they are intrinsically conscious and in danger of being subjected to violence. Individuals are targeted for the plain reason that they belong to a group. Violence is a social practice that is constructed by a group yet it is targeted at an individual. Powerlessness is also key to shaping the individual in a group. Through exploitation, some people are more wealthy and more powerful than others. The group that is subject to lower class are powerless towards the upper class, however the upper class are dependent on them because that is how they obtain their power. The powerful have the ability to shape their purpose and that involves the powerless following orders and not expecting more than what they are given. The powerless individuals are needed in this system so that others can profit.