A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Internalized Oppression
Partial or total acceptance by people of marginalized identities of cultural norms as defined and interpreted by an oppressor group leading to disdain and/or devaluation of their own body, culture, or identity. This occurs usually as a result of passive enculturation of women / people of color / and LGBTQ folks that places them as less valuable, beautiful, and intelligent than white / heterosexual / cisgendered / men. When marginalized groups begin to view themselves within and through the constructs of the dominant culture, they themselves participate in the reproduction of those very constructs. Thus, internalized oppression runs counter to self-determination and is both the result of past and present oppressions, as well as a tool that serves to maintain capitalist, heteropatriarchal, white-supremacist systems of power.
Poupart, Lisa M. The Familiar Face of Genocide: Internalized Oppression among American Indians. Project Muse.
Pyke, Karen D. "What is Internalized Racial Oppression and Why Don't We Study It? Acknowledging Racism's Hidden Injuries" Sociological Perspectives, 2010; 551–572.
Despite sociology’s longstanding interest in inequality, the internalization of racial oppression among the racially subordinated and its contribution to the reproduction of racial inequality has been largely ignored, reflecting a taboo on the subject. Consequently, internalized racism remains one of the most neglected and misunderstood components of racism. In this article, the author argues that only by defying the taboo can sociology expose the hidden injuries of racism and the subtle mechanisms that sustain White privilege. After reviewing the concept and providing examples of the phenomenon, the author draws on critical social theory to examine reasons for the taboo, such as a theoretical fixation on resistance, a penchant for racial essentialism, and the limitations of an identity politics. The author concludes by offering a method for studying internalized racism and resistance concurrently within the matrix of intersecting forms of oppression.
Pyke, Karen D. "What is Internalized Racial Oppression and Why Don't We Study It? Acknowledging Racism's Hidden Injuries" Sociological Perspectives, 2010; 551–572.
Despite sociology’s longstanding interest in inequality, the internalization of racial oppression among the racially subordinated and its contribution to the reproduction of racial inequality has been largely ignored, reflecting a taboo on the subject. Consequently, internalized racism remains one of the most neglected and misunderstood components of racism. In this article, the author argues that only by defying the taboo can sociology expose the hidden injuries of racism and the subtle mechanisms that sustain White privilege. After reviewing the concept and providing examples of the phenomenon, the author draws on critical social theory to examine reasons for the taboo, such as a theoretical fixation on resistance, a penchant for racial essentialism, and the limitations of an identity politics. The author concludes by offering a method for studying internalized racism and resistance concurrently within the matrix of intersecting forms of oppression.