The Five Faces of Oppression by Marissa Camacho

Definition from Young’s article:

marissacamacho1 — 2023-10-25 06:32:21 UTC

“The capitalist obtains the money she pays as a wage by selling what the worker produces during the time for which he is employed. If the worker produced an amount of value equivalent only to his wage, there would be nothing left over for the capitalist and no reason for her to hire the worker in the first place.” Pg. 217

An image that captures the definition:

marissacamacho1 — 2023-10-25 06:32:41 UTC

With which social categories does exploitation work?

marissacamacho1 — 2023-10-25 06:34:56 UTC

I think exploitation can mix with many different social categories. I believe gender because women are paid less and treated less than men in the work place. Race/ethnicity is definitely a big one because racism and stereotypes play into a big part of how people of color are treated in their careers. Sexual orientation as well because not everyone is open-minded and accepting as we would hope they would be which could lead to mistreatment in the work place.

How is this face relevant to you, and your community?

marissacamacho1 — 2023-10-25 06:35:49 UTC

I was raised my my mom, grandma, and aunt for the majority of my life- so I was basically raised by women. Growing up and being raised by them I would always noticed incidents of toxic masculinity and men just asserting themselves or assuming we need help in random situations. I feel like over time this has affected my family because even now sometimes they’ll say things like, “just wait until we can get a man to do it.” My mom actually said this to me a few years ago while I was trying to put up our Christmas tree and that only encouraged me more so I put it up all by myself to prove we didn’t need a mans help.

What is one example of method to challenge this face of oppression?

marissacamacho1 — 2023-10-25 06:36:18 UTC

I think the most effective way of challenging exploitation is uniting together as a big group and basically striking against big companies to not allow them to exploit their workers anymore. If enough workers from companies that are big on exploitation join together to strike against them and not work for them/produce & sell their products for them, the companies will have no choice except making big changes that will satisfy their employees and continue to make them profit.

Definition:

marissacamacho1 — 2023-10-25 06:38:57 UTC

Marginalization is the process of a certain group of people being excluded from various things and aspects of life because of their appearance or background. Marginalization discriminates people and doesn’t allow them to have all of the resources they need and excludes them from the rest of society, nor does it give them to chance to have the opportunity to exceed societies expectations of marginalized people.

Add one image that captures the definition:

marissacamacho1 — 2023-10-25 06:39:10 UTC

With which category does marginalization work?

marissacamacho1 — 2023-10-25 06:39:32 UTC

I think marginalization can work best with ability because a huge representation of marginalized people are people with disabilities. In the workplace, someone who is disabled is more likely to not be treated as fairly as someone who is not disabled. They are also more likely to not be given equal pay, or equal opportunities to advance themselves and their career.

What is one effective method of challenging marginalization? Explain with a concrete example. Include one real-life example with a source:

marissacamacho1 — 2023-10-25 06:40:26 UTC

I think an effective way of challenging marginalization is to find more exclusive and diverse ways for people who are marginalized to be a part of society and participate in activities without letting anyone’s interpretations of marginalized people get in the way. For example, I know that some grocery stores have a “seniors only” time period while they turn the music down low and are open to only seniors to allow them to shop for groceries comfortably without the overwhelming amount of other people and things occurring.

How does marginalization connect to exploitation?

marissacamacho1 — 2023-10-25 06:40:46 UTC

Marginalization can connect to exploitation because they both occur in the areas of economics and cultural capitalism. Many people who are marginalized experience exploitation and vice versa because they are not seen as significant for something better than what they are given/able to do.

Definition in your own words:

marissacamacho1 — 2023-11-29 18:35:05 UTC

The idea of powerlessness is what separates the professional upper class working people from the middle/lower class non professional working people. For the upper class working professional people, it basically gives them a physical and mental title that they are more appreciated and respected in society on a daily basis. And for the middle/lower class working people it gives them a title that they are not as important in a workplace or have that importance or authority in their lives on a daily basis. The two different groups are thought of and treated very differently in society so that is why they are given these titles.

How does powerlessness relate to exploitation/ marginalization?

marissacamacho1 — 2023-11-29 18:35:54 UTC

I think powerlessness relates to exploitation and marginalization because it is a part of the emotional aspect that comes with being exploited and marginalized. People who experience exploitation and marginalization also experience the feeling of powerlessness depending on what aspect or situation that are being mistreated in.

In which social categories does powerlessness work?

marissacamacho1 — 2023-11-29 19:18:19 UTC

I think powerlessness works most with race and citizenship/language because unfortunately these traits and aspects of someone play a huge part in how they are seen in the world, how they are treated, communicated with, and the opportunities they would or would not receive in life based on their race, citizenship status, and language barrier.

We discussed code-switching as a potential way to challenge (linguistic) powerlessness. Share your reflection on code-switching if it is an effective way.

marissacamacho1 — 2023-11-29 19:18:52 UTC

I think code switching is very effective and is used by people way more than they even realize. I think code switching is something that just comes naturally to us as humans no matter who you are but is used more specifically by people who are oppressed because it helps them challenge their brain to learn a different way of communicating which different groups of people.

Define in Your Own Words:

marissacamacho1 — 2023-12-10 03:36:44 UTC

Cultural Imperialism is when a group claims themselves as dominant due to their life and cultural experiences they believe their experiences are “normal” and above everyone else’s and highly observe the less dominant group very harshly, to anyone that does not fit their version of a “normal” stereotype.

In which social categories does Cultural Imperialism work? List two prominent categories with examples:

marissacamacho1 — 2023-12-10 03:37:48 UTC

Race/ethnicity: I believe cultural imperialism works with this category because in our society in America, most of the time it is the white Caucasian race who is the “dominant” group observing and gazing over the less “dominant” group which is anyone who is a POC and may have different values or beliefs from them because of the way they were raised and their cultures.

Sex/gender: I believe cultural imperialism also works with this category because we as humans used to be taught that men were stronger, smarter, and better at most things which has allowed that thought and perspective to be engrained into our heads even when we know that that is not true at all. Because of this, men have proclaimed themselves as the “dominant” group and women/anyone who is not a cisgender male, as the “less dominant group” and observe them in a derogatory and sexist way almost everyday.

What is Double-Consciousness? Define based on your own life experience:

marissacamacho1 — 2023-12-10 03:39:00 UTC

In my words, double-consciousness is when you experience forms of cultural imperialism in your life and you get so used to it that you start to think these things about yourself as well as do certain acts to prevent any other occurrences from taking place. For example, growing up as a girl I was never really taken serious when it came to boys or men. I would constantly get talked over disrespectfully and I feel like a lot of other woman/girls can relate to this. But because of this I often tend to pause or talk less and try to keep my sentences short and brief when talking to men I don’t know well, because I always have that slight fear in mind I will be interrupted or talked over at any moment.

What are some ways to get rid of cultural imperialism? (You can focus on double-consciousness):

marissacamacho1 — 2023-12-10 03:40:21 UTC

I think the best and most effective way of getting rid of cultural imperialism is starting off young inside of schools and teaching more diverse exclusive history to kids so the thought that there is a “dominant” and “less” dominant group who’s cultural experiences are more important/“normal” than others. Kids might already have a sense of the dominant/less dominant establishment of cultural imperialism, but changing the dynamics of how history is taught in schools would definitely be a good start and would allow children to be more open minded.

What does it mean that violence is a social practice, beyond being individual victimization?

marissacamacho1 — 2023-12-10 03:41:19 UTC

I think that this means that instead of being targeted towards one specific person for a specific reason, this type of violence is targeted to entire groups of certain people by other groups of certain people. It is a social practice that people practice on a daily basis whether you’re the one inflicting the violence, a victim of violence, or living in fear of something happening to you.

In what social category does violence work? Give an example to illustrate:

marissacamacho1 — 2023-12-10 03:41:49 UTC

I think this works well with Gender because women live in fear of violence happening to them literally everyday and almost everywhere they go because of the way women are treated and seen in our society. A lot of harmful attacks and assaults happen to women simply because of their gender and features which causes all other women to live in fear knowing that this could happen to us at anytime and probably will in our lifetimes.

How would cultural imperialism promote violence as a social practice?

marissacamacho1 — 2023-12-10 03:42:25 UTC

I think that cultural imperialism promotes violence as a social practice because in a situation with cultural imperialism the “dominant” group would be inflicting the violence onto the less “dominant” group they observe. With cultural imperialism and violence, its both groups of people with concreted thoughts and stereotypes in their head that choose to involve themselves in some way of observing or causing harm to people they don’t consider within their norms