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Yarabi Campos

Dr. Tsantsoulas

PHIL 3548

December 10, 2022

OPT: Young, “Five Faces of Oppression”

Marion Young defined the concepts of oppression based on the political movements due

to the diversity and difficulty to produce a universal definition for oppression. Oppression does

not stop with just racism, classism, homophobia, and more. As Young would describe, oppressed

people would suffer from a further of ability development to expressing needs, thoughts, and

feelings (40). Because of the complexity, Young would describe and divide oppression as five

concepts: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness relates to the social division of labor;

cultural imperialism is normalizing a dominant group’s culture, behaviors, beliefs, and

experiences; and finally, violence, systemic violence that provoke fear for random and

unprovoked to damage and socially destroy the person.

Oppression and following concepts are a following of themes to understand and destroy

through education in the philosophy course of Race, Class, Gender, Sexuality. While oppression

may not be annihilated, people can understand the backbone of oppression before adopting

behaviors to welcome and actively join in political movements. To actively participate in

positive behaviors is to actively participate in allyship. These concepts fit perfectly with the

classroom’s theme of Race (racism), Class (classism), Gender (genderism/gender

binaries/Transphobia), and Sexuality (homophobia). This connection of ideas within the

umbrella term of oppression makes a significant realization that one cannot erase oppression

from any one side, but a system that must be revised for a more inclusive community.
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References

Young, Marion. “Fives Faces of Oppression.” Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton
UP, n.d., pp. 39-65.