UGC 211 1st Edition Lecture 4 Defining Oppression What is Oppression Marilyn Frye Article o Pressing down on something and molding into a certain image way o Unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power o Something that oppresses especially in being an unjust or excessive exercise of power o A sense of being weighed down in body or mind What is an Institution Religion set rules to different religions Institution of learning Social systems Church Media Business industry Government laws Gemini mainstream view Fairly stable social arrangements and practices through which collective actions are taken Institutional Oppression Institutional Oppression We live in a society with lots of institutional oppression create and control society doesn t mean all individuals in society agree o The practice not individuals are being condemned o System of invisible barriers limits people based on their membership in unfavorable social groups Militarization of Local Police o o o o o o o o o o o o Trained using same tactics as military o Use of military vehicles o Resemble military operations looks and actions o Returning veterans from overseas becoming police officers returning of standing army o Is the way they re dressing causing this tension o Psychology has a lot to do with it o Need police oversight committees to handle this issue before it gets worse o Form of oppression o Militarization has taken away rights of free speech o Based on fear of what is going to happen caused militarization Double Bind Good answer for short answer on test These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Situations in which options are reduced to a very few and all of them expose one to penalty censure or deprivation o Issues of how women are viewed Frye s Metaphor for Oppression o o o Need to look macroscopically BIG picture not microscopically small picture Shows the interconnectedness of oppression Rodney King LA Riots 1992 o Routine pull over suspected he had drugs o Beat up by police brutalized o Police officers were not indicted British in the Americas o White Anglo Saxon Jewish view Africans in the Americas o Without Africans America wouldn t have enough money for all industrialization o Free labor o Slaves created profits Asians in the Americas o Been here America for a long time o Stereotypes as exotic heathen o 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act o Model Minority Chicanos in America o Mexicans huge population in US o Of American descent o Immigrants and colonized o Been here for over 150 years o Controversy now with immigration Irish in America Called savages starving dirty jobless Tension between Irish and British Maids of America construction workers factory operatives They re catholic Body and blood Christ contributed to them being called savages Easier for them to blend in because of color of skin spoke English assimilated well into workforce o Jobs created respect police force fire fighters Jews in America o o o o o o o o Huge threat educated America represented Promised Land to them o Considered highly successful ethnic group Race is a social construct