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Critical Synthesis By Maxime Smith-Daigle

Educ 454 Prof. Sarah Desroches November 2nd 2012 Concordia University

''Oppression means the exercise of tyranny by a ruling group'' (Adams, 2010, p. 35). This is the quote Adams uses to explain what oppression means in its traditional usage. However, in 2012, oppression has changed slightly. I believe it is more discreet yet still present. In a system of oppressions, there are two groups. The privileged group & the oppressed group. The privileged group will be the one that has something of value (e.g.: opportunities/choices) that is denied to other groups simply because they belong to another group rather than anything they've failed to do or done (Adams, 2010, p. 16). In 2012, one privileged group can be white males. The oppressed group will not have the same choices/opportunities; sometimes they will have no choice at all compared to the privileged group. In 2012, an oppressed group can be coloured females. Therefore, oppression in a society is when the oppressed group suffers from social inequalities due to the advantages of the privileged group (Adams, 2010, p. 21). An example of oppression here in Quebec could be the difficulty of coloured women to get high position jobs like their counterparts white men. For example, one reason why a white man, belonging to the privileged group, wouldn't want to give a high position job to the coloured woman, belonging to the oppressed group, could be based on social inequality beliefs such as the belief that since they are of coloured and of the female sex, coloured women are less qualified for the job and do not have the authoritative skills to do the job like a white man can. Oppression operates on multiple levels; conscious and unconscious, on the individual level, the institutional level and finally on the societal level (Adams, 2010, p. 27). Sometimes oppression can be done consciously but sometimes in can be done unconsciously as well. Through social interactions with important individuals in our lives; parents, peers, teachers, or institutions, we are socialized into a system of oppressions without realizing it (Adams, 2010, p. 27). Either intentionally or unintentionally, these people or institutions pass on their believes to

us about the oppressor & the oppressed groups. As a result, we learn to accept this oppression as normal and this can lead people to accept systems of oppressions unconsciously and therefore become oppressors unconsciously (Adams, 2010, p. 27). Moreover, oppression operates at the individual level by individuals attitudes or behaviours (Adams, 2010, p. 27). For example someone using racial slurs to refer to Blacks. Another level of oppression is at the institutional level. By institutions I mean the government, schools, the legal systems and even families (Adams, 2010, p. 27). These institutions will maintain or reinforce systems of oppressions by their actions or beliefs. For example, a school where students celebrate Christmas as the only winter holiday. Finally, the last level of oppression is at the societal/cultural level. In a society where oppression is present, the cultural perspective of the privileged groups is imposed on institutions by individuals and on individuals by institutions (Adams, 2010, p. 27). For example, standards of beauty for women are based on white norms; blond, fine hair, blue eyes and fair skin. As mentioned previously, oppression operates on multiple levels. Moreover, as Iris Marion Young explains, there are five faces of oppression. These five faces of oppression are five different structures of how oppression might manifest. The five faces of oppression are exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism and violence (Adams, 2010, p. 35). Exploitation is when one group, the privileged group, exploit others, the oppressed group, and takes unfair advantages of them. For example, exploitation can be seen in the women/men relationships where women are oppressed. In cases where men oppress women, be it at the work level or the status level, the reason why men can have a higher status and work level is because

women work for men (Adams, 2010, p. 37). Only by exploiting women can men be able to get a higher status and work level. Marginalization is believed to be the most dangerous form of oppression (Adams, 2010, p. 38). Marginalization is when whole categories of people are expelled from useful participation in social life (Adams, 2010, p. 38). Some categories of people that are marginalized can be elderly people, disabled people, people who get laid off from their jobs and cannot find a new one or even young people who cannot find new first jobs. Since these categories of people cannot find a job and therefore end up being poor or go by with very little resources, they end up being marginalized compared to the majority of people who can work. As a result, people who have jobs; the privileged group, oppress unemployed people, the oppressed group. Powerlessness is another face of oppression. It can simply be explained by comparing the people who have jobs with autonomy (such as professionals) to people who have jobs without autonomy (such as the working class). Workers from the working class usually lack the authority, status and sense of self that the professionals have and therefore experience powerlessness (Adams, 2010, p. 40). As a result, the working class can be subject to oppression by professionals, the privileged group, because the professionals have more autonomy/power than the working class. Violence is a face of oppression because members of the oppressed groups are victims of violence simply by belonging to that oppressed group (Adams, 2010, p. 43). Oppression through violence can be very traumatizing because people belonging to the oppressed group not only suffer from direct violence, but have to bear in mind on a daily basis that they could be victims of violence simply by belonging to their oppressed groups (Adams, 2010, p. 43).

For this essay, I will focus on cultural imperialism and give two concrete examples in which I experienced cultural imperialism within an educational environment. I will first go over cultural imperialism and explain how oppression can be observed within this concept. Cultural imperialism, also known as cultural dominance, is when the privileged group's experience and culture are established as the norm (Adams, 2010, p. 41). Therefore, the privileged group's history, culture, and experience are defined as superior to all other groups. As a result, the privileged group's culture or experience is considered ''normal'' or as the ''norm'' while the other group's culture and experience are considered as ''strange'' or simply ''invisible'' compared to the dominant group. All the groups that differ from the privileged group are all grouped up together and considered as the oppressed group (Adams, 2010, p. 41). When I was in grade ten and studying the history of Canada and Quebec, the books always presented the white Europeans as coming to North America and discovering the continent. I was taught that we white Europeans were the ones who first landed on this continent and that before us, the continent had not been explored However, it is a fact that long before the Europeans came to North America, the natives and aboriginal groups lived on this land for many centuries. That is not the way that the textbook presented it. According to what we learned in class and from the textbook, the Europeans came to North America, traded with the natives; in ways that seemed more like exploitation than trade, & took some new lands, which already belonged to the natives. This is a great example of cultural dominance. I was being taught that my ancestors, the white Europeans, belonged to the privileged group because through power; guns and better technology, our culture was established as the norm in all of Canada. The native culture was being completely put aside and labeled as the oppressed group because their culture differed

from our culture and experience. Despite having lived in Canada long before the Europeans, the natives culture and experience was stigmatized into the lesser group while the white European culture was defined as the norm and considered superior. That is still very present today. Despite allowing more visibility and importance within the Canadian culture, the natives are still viewed as the oppressed group and the Canadian government, institution of the privileged group, controls them by managing their reserves. Another example of cultural dominance within our educational environment is the way the textbooks are only adapted for our ''white culture''. Some small improvements have been observed recently; there are some pictures of other ethnic groups in the textbooks and some holidays belonging to other cultures are mentioned, but overall, the textbooks are mostly about the privileged group, us the white North American. Most of the pictures and characters in the textbooks are white males & females. Whenever we talk about holidays, our most famous holidays like Christmas and Easter are always mentioned while less famous holidays are omitted. This is another good example of cultural dominance. Despite having many children from different ethnic background attending schools, especially in Montreal, the textbooks references mainly white culture, which is the privileged group. Our culture is viewed as the norm and we allocated little or no importance to other ethnic cultures. After reading this essay, one must realize that oppression is still very present within our society and that its effect, the five faces of oppression, are very damaging to our society. Therefore, it is very important to be aware of oppression in order to stop normalizing it and rather condemn it. One way of doing that is to address the problem of oppression within our school environment.

References Adams, M. (2010). Readings for diversity and social justice. New York: Routledge. (Adams, 2010, p. 35).