We were born into a world with systems and institutions in operation: cultural, economic, political, legal, linguistic, religious, etc.  These social constructed systems have shifted and altered over time to be what was handed to us at our birth.  Their ability to shift is because they are ‘social constructs’ - human inventions, figments of human imagination.  As such, they are malleable, subject to alteration by the dominant group, which only recently in human history is “the will of the people.”  

These systems were designed by and structured for the dominant power.  Since the development of agrarian societies and the rise of “civilizations” 10,000 years ago, that dominant power has been rich/ owning class men.  In more recent times other social hierarchies have arisen to further divide the 1% haves from the have nots, with greater divisions between the have nots and the have nothings.

These unequal and inhumane systems have been perpetuated primarily through militaries, policing and legal systems.  A secondary source, which is more passive, is dominant cultural narratives.  Propaganda is a brute force way to impose narratives, but the dominant cultural narratives with longevity are a far more effective anesthetic.  In the United States, these include: rugged individualism, self-interest, meritocracy, exceptionalism, paternalism, profit seeking, scarcity, zero-sum, perfectionism, the American Dream, etc. These narratives have been ingrained in our unconscious and conscious brain since birth.  They are so deeply embedded they are beyond “norms,” they are virtues. As such they are unquestioned and unchallenged, which is tragic, because they are pathologies. They have locked in systems of inequality which have misshaped our world and misshaped us.  Even the few who have gained privileges under them, suffer the disconnection from other humans, the loss of human potential and the harm they perpetrate in our world. 

It is self-evident that we are struggling with many challenges in our world today, as we have since we evolved.  At the top of these challenges are Inequality and injustice (with the climate crisis, arguably, the most pressing).  These challenges and many others have a common thread that Oppression Theory sheds light on.   Understanding the macro forces that underpin our systems and institutions are essential to expand our awareness, enabling us to make better decisions and take actions to evolve these systems.  The following is meant to give a simplified overview of a key force underlying these systems.  It is meant to help disrupt the dominant cultural narratives that have locked them in and locked us out of understanding ourselves, each other and our world.  

There will be an inevitable pull towards centering yourself in this systemic overview.  Distinguishing the systemic forces acting on all of us rather than your individual experience is critical to seeing this high-level view.   The impacts these systems have had on conditioning each of us and the roles we play individually in upholding them are more nuanced.  This is meant to provide a framework to see the world, to begin unpacking it and to redirect efforts to evolve us.  

Systemic Oppressions

Oppression = systematic and socially condoned, one-way mistreatment of one group against another or society as a whole against a group.  It is prejudice + systemic/ institutional power. 

‘Prejudice’ afflicts all humans.  We all have them.  We were not born with them, they were installed in us at a very early age, conditioned into us.  They have pervaded our conscious brain and are deeply rooted in our unconscious.

‘Systemic/ Institutional power’ is the overarching structures of a society: its cultural “norms”, economic system, governments, legal systems and religious organizations.

These two forces combine to create systemic oppressions; designed and maintained to favor one group over another.  These are contemporary and historically rooted.  They are globalized with varying levels of degrees of rootedness. 

The dynamics of these systemic oppressions operate with one group, the dominant, in the role of oppressor and another group, the marginalized, in the role of victims.  It privileges one group and disadvantages the other.

The most pervasive systemic oppressions are:

Classism =   Prejudice based on economic status + systemic/ institutional power = Owning class people’s mistreatment of poor/ working class people.

Racism =     Prejudice based on skin color + systemic/ Institutional power = White people’s mistreatment of the Global Majority (Black, Indigenous, People of Color).

Sexism =     Prejudice based on gender + systemic/ institutional power = Men’s mistreatment of Women, Intersex and Non-Binary.

Heterosexism (Homophobia) = Prejudice based on sexual orientation + systemic/ institutional power = Heterosexual people’s mistreatment of LGBTQIA+ people.

Adultism =  Prejudice based on age (youth) + systemic/ institutional power = Adult’s mistreatment of young people

Ageism =     Prejudice based on age (elderly) + systemic/ institutional power = Adult & Young people’s mistreatment of Elderly people

Ableism =   Prejudice based on ability + systemic/ institutional power = People without disabilities mistreatment of People with disabilities.

Anti-Semitism = Prejudice based on religious beliefs + systemic/ institutional power = non-Jewish people’s mistreatment of Jewish people.

Anti-Muslim = Prejudice based on religious beliefs + systemic/ institutional power = non-Muslim people’s mistreatment of Muslim people.

Nationalism = Prejudice based on nationality + systemic/ institutional power = Citizens of one nations mistreatment of people from other nations.  (Xenophobia = Fear of “others”/ foreigners leading to people’s mistreatment of people seen as foreign or “other” than them.)

Role Dynamics of Oppressions:

Oppression

   Oppressor Role  -  Victim Role

Classism:  

     Owning class   -   Working class/ Poor

Sexism:          

     Men  -  Women, Intersex & Non-Binary

Heterosexism/ Homophobia:

     Heterosexual     -      LGBTQIA+

Racism:

     White People  -   People of the Global Majority

Adultism: 

      Adults   -     Young People

Ageism:  

      Adult/ Young    -    Elderly

Ableism: 

      Able-Bodied   -   People with disabilities

Anti-Semitism:

      Christians   -    Jewish People

Anti-Muslim:

      Judeo/ Christian  -   Muslim People

Nationalism:

     Citizens of Country  -  Non-Citizens

Each of us were born into this world with identities which fall on the oppressor side or the victim side of the above equations in how our systems and institutions are currently structured.  The personal impacts from these are unique to each of us. The intersections of where each of your identities fall on this matrix can have a large impact on your lived experience.  The impacts are far from definitive for each individual, but macro-scientific studies are conclusive that these socio-economic forces are the strongest determinant of life outcomes in income, employment, education, social status, health and longevity.   

On aggregate, those in the dominant role are often oblivious to these and accept them as just “the way it is”, enjoying the benefits and entitlements they provide directly and indirectly.  Whereas, those on the victim side live and feel the impacts on a daily basis, with unequal treatment, limited access to resources, denied opportunity, mistreatment, violence and death.   

The tragedy for all of us, in this macabre theater, is the diminished humanity, connection, self-awareness, self-expression, and vast human potential we have.  

Recognizing and acknowledging the overarching power of systems & institutions in defining these oppressions provides clarity in three key ways:

1.   It distinguishes terminology, allowing language to illuminate the lived experiences of people, past and present.   It differentiates the systemic nature of oppressions from their underlying prejudices, i.e. racial prejudices are not all “racism” pending the power dynamics.  

2.   Eliminates the feasibility of roll reversal i.e. “reverse sexism,” “reverse racism.”  By definition, these are logical fallacies since the institutional/ systemic power does not support a reversal of roles.  The attempts to equivocate by the dominant (oppressor) group obfuscates and derails the struggle for equality/ justice by marginalized peoples.  It is an attempt to disempower, confuse, demean, and/or debase underrepresented groups to maintain a system that provides unequal privileges for the dominant group.

3.   Exposes privilege i.e. “male privilege,” “white privilege,” etc. These systemic oppressions afford direct and indirect “privileges” to those in the dominant/ oppressor class, regardless of individual participation in the oppression.  The notion of a victim class having systemic “privileges” is a logical fallacy.  Furthermore, this type of terminology is used by the dominant group to falsely equivocate the systemic advantages granted to the oppressor group.  It is an attempt to disempower, confuse, demean, and/or debase underrepresented groups to maintain a system that provides unequal privileges for the dominant group.

Systemic Oppressions Impact on Individuals

Systems operate because individuals reinforce, uphold or acquiesce to them.  We each play a role and are accountable for our actions and inactions.  Ibram Kendi best summarized the transitory relationship we have with racism in “How To Be An Antiracist”:

“The good news is that racist and antiracist are not fixed identities.  We can be a racist one minute and an antiracist the next.  What we say about race, what we do about race, in each moment, determines what – not who – we are.”

Our individual experience and awareness of how these operate on us and in us can begin the process to dismantle the oppressor/ victim roles that maintain these oppressions.  

The persistence of these systemic oppressions is rooted in our unhealed painful experiences that are unconscious or conscious.  They were and are conditioned prejudices & biases instilled in us from the earliest ages, reinforced by socialized “norms”, some from traumatic experiences, all of which left untreated or unhealed are how this cycle perpetuates.  The first systemic oppression each of us experienced is generally Adultism, however poverty and the deprivations inherent to Classism creates early impacts (trauma) for many.  The role our parents play in passing down their unhealed conditioning and traumas provide the backdrop for intergenerational trauma, not only psychologically but physically through epigenetics.

Victim – Oppressor Dynamics

1)  No human would hurt another human, except out of how they have been hurt.

2)  All unhealed hurts channel into oppressor - victim roles, depending on the conditioning.  This becomes an endless chain of attack and blame. 

3)  There are no human enemies.

The results of how we individually got hurt and were unable to heal, becomes the content of:

         A)   How you hurt others = Oppressor

         B)   How you allow others to hurt you = Victim

         C)   How you hurt yourself or others in your “group” = Internalized Oppression (victim)

Unlike systemic oppressions, at the individual level we can play out any of the three roles. As such, it is possible for a woman to act out in an oppressor role toward a man in the victim role.   This act exposes the inhumanity of playing out these roles, but cannot, by definition, be called sexism or reverse sexism.   

Internalized oppression can be victim vs victim (child vs. child) or oppressor vs oppressor (men vs. men).  This role is often overlooked and underexamined.  It plays an adverse and key role in reinforcing the oppressor/ victim dynamic by acting out in inhumane ways toward other humans. 

Since no human would want to hurt another human, every individual has been hurt to be forced into the various roles.  Our 'humanness' is still intact it just gets covered over by the train wreck of hurts that have occurred in our lives that have not been healed.  It distorts our reality.  It obscures our humanity.

In the moment of a ‘triggered’, ‘activated’, ‘reactive’ state of mind, the above conditioned roles begin to get acted out.  Below is a scenario exercise:  How do you think a fight/ disagreement will play out between these 2 individuals?

Individual 1              Individual 2

Woman                             Man

White                                Black

Working Class           Upper Class

Heterosexual             Homosexual

Elderly                               Young

Jewish                            Christian

There is going to be a lot happening before they even begin to get close, just based on oppression dynamics, in terms of which role of their unhealed pain and fear, confusion and misinformation they occupy toward the other person. 

Here is how it could play out: 

   Gender:             victim & oppressor

   Race:                  oppressor &  victim

   Class:                    victim & oppressor 

   Sexual orientation:  oppressor &  victim

   Age:                      victim &  victim

   Religion:              victim & oppressor

This gives you some idea of what their fights could look like, when they get triggered, backed up against the wall and they start attacking each other.  

He could pull out his sexism, she could pull out her racism, he could pull out his classism, she could pull out her homophobia, he could pull out his anti-Semitism and finally, you decide how the ageism vs adultism will play. 

This is what their fights could look like when the pain is up and the pain is activated.  It is in this space that rational human awareness gets lost in conditioned reactivity.  Harms created, divisions made, humanity lost.

What this means for each of us:

* We must stop acting out oppressor/ victim roles.

* The decision we need to make is to dismantle our own oppressor/ victim roles. 

* In eliminating any and all systemic oppressions we must eliminate both the victim and oppressor roles that occur under every oppression. 

Healing Self, Others & Allyship

The work begins with us healing some of this mess within ourselves, by working to dismantle our oppressor and our victim roles.  Supporting others becomes more natural, after we have chosen to do our personal work: women supporting women, men supporting men to dismantle their oppressor roles and all of their victim roles that they occupy.  

Men/ white people/ owning class/ heterosexuals cannot dismantle their oppressor role without dismantling their victim roles.  

Women/ Black, Indigenous, LatinX, Asian people/ working class/ LGBTQIA+ cannot dismantle their victim roles without dismantling all the oppressor roles they play in relation to race, class, age, etc. 

As we emerge from the personal work, it should become clear that building solidarity with each other - women and men, BIPOC and white, working class/ poor and owning class, LGBTQIA+ and Heterosexuals, etc. - to eliminate all oppressions is essential.   

We cannot eliminate one oppression without eliminating all others! 

Summary  

Both oppressor and victim roles are irrational and antithetic to our inherent human nature.  They have become “normalized” through systemic processes i.e. political, legal, economic, religious, cultural institutions and reinforced by ingrained social, philosophic and pedagogical practices.  They remain locked in place by the many privileges afforded the dominant group.  Combined with the absence of rational thinking and avenues for healing, we are left confused and incapable of recovering our inherent humanity. 

We need to stop acting out these conditioned roles, so we can start being human.

Do you want to keep this world, in its current state, as your legacy for future generations, or would you like to work to build a better world?

To help keep grounded and focused:

Prejudices are not your fault!  They are your responsibility to clean up and heal. 

You have always done your best, given the information available to you. 

Be careful of guilt, hopelessness and fear (fragility), these inhibit your path forward. 

Prejudices are not your fault!  They are your responsibility to clean up and heal. 

This theory is from the teachings of psychologist Charlie Kreiner, an early pioneer in worldwide human liberation work.    

Copyright © 1991 Charlie Kreiner