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Oppression

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Animal & Human Rights

   Oppression is the negative outcome experienced by people targeted by
   the cruel exercise of power in a society or social group. It is
   particularly closely associated with nationalism and derived social
   systems, wherein identity is built by antagonism to the other. The term
   itself derives from the idea of being "weighted down."

   The term oppression is primarily used to describe how a certain group
   is being kept down by unjust use of force, authority, or societal
   norms. When this is institutionalized formally or informally in a
   society, it is referred to as "systematic oppression". Oppression is
   most commonly felt and expressed by a widespread, if unconscious,
   assumption that a certain group of people are inferior. Oppression is
   rarely limited solely to government action. Individuals can be victims
   of oppression, and in this case have no group membership to share their
   burden of being ostracized.

   In psychology, racism, sexism and other prejudices are often studied as
   individual beliefs which, although not necessarily oppressive in
   themselves, can lead to oppression if they are acted on, or codified
   into law or other systems. By comparison, in sociology, these
   prejudices are often studied as being institutionalized systems of
   oppression in some societies. In sociology, the tools of oppression
   include a progression of denigration, dehumanization, and demonization;
   which often generate scapegoating, which is used to justify aggression
   against targeted groups and individuals.

   The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the concept of Human
   Rights in general were designed to challenge oppression by giving a
   clear articulation of what limits should be placed on the power of any
   entity to unfairly control an individual or group of people.

   A hierarchy of oppression is a ranking ( hierarchy) of relative
   oppressions according to arbitrariness and cruelty, or according to the
   perceived negative effects on oppressed communities. Hierarchies of
   oppression are seen by many human rights advocates as problematic,
   though hierarchies of oppression are often widespread even when
   unstated or unconscious.

   When oppression is systematized through coercion, threats of violence,
   or violence by government agencies or non-government paramilitiaries
   with a political motive, it is often called Political repression. More
   subtle forms of political oppression/repression can be produced by
   blacklisting or individualized investigations such as happened during
   McCarthyism in the United States.

   Transnational systems of oppression include colonialism, imperialism,
   and totalitarianism, and can generate a resistance movement to
   challenge the oppressive status quo.

Resistance

   Several movements have arisen that specifically aim to oppose, analyse
   and counter oppression in general; examples include Liberation Theology
   in the Catholic world, and Re-evaluation Counselling in the
   psychotherapuetic arena.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppression"
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