Understanding the Psychology of Social Oppression
The phenomenon called "psychology of oppression" is the psychological effects of social oppression, and the psychological requirements that sustain social oppression. In other words, social oppression includes a psychological complement in the victim that contributes to his subjugation.
The phenomenon "psychology of oppression" consists of psychological stultification across a wide range of psychological processes. Social oppression enlists, co-opts, corrupts many psychological processes in its victims to do its bidding.
Psychology of oppression stunts people's capacity to understand, own, and control their society, which are all necessary to understand and fulfill oneself.
Psychology of oppression is not limited to psychology that is disfavored (e.g, low educational achievement, prejudice, superficiality, apathy). It may also include socially-valued psychological phenomena such as craving, impulsively buying, and identifying with consumer products; Islamic women accepting gender apartheid; electing political candidates and endorsing political policies that represent the interests of the elite class rather than the populace; irrationality, conformity, selfishness, and short-sightedness; 0believing superficial and biased news; All of these are debased/stunted psychological forms that fall short of fulfillment, and are ultimately based in, serve, and embody social oppression and diminished social being.
Psychology of oppression can be objectively demonstrated to diminish the subject's psychology and sociality, and to subjugate him to the economic and political interests of a ruling social elite.
A public that is stupefied by news coverage of political events which focuses upon superficial, personal, unfactual, sensationalistic, immediate events, is easily misled into voting for policies and officials which benefit the ruling class to the detriment of the populace. It is also misled into division and a false identification of the oppressor.
Oppressed people unwittingly recapitulate the ideology of their oppressors and also underestimate the extent of their own oppression.
Oppressed psychology is not aware of its oppression. It is unaware of itself. This is why psychology of oppression is problematical and resists change. It requires an external analysis and re-education if we're to free our people.
Giving freedom to the oppressed today requires a re-programming of the mind to stand up to their oppressors and a realization that the oppressed always outnumbers the oppressor.
@empress-eremmy - It seems to me from your post, that 'the Psychology of Social Oppression' is the collective or mass form of a past trauma.
For example, on an individual level a person can experience a shocking or traumatic event that causes great emotional or physical pain or both. This event is internalized as a memory associated with pain.
After that, the person is stuck in a loop wherein they constantly dwell on the memory, and the associated pain is always lurking in the background. In this way they become stuck in life in various ways and can't move forward. i.e. PTSD etc.
Of course, for individuals there are psychologists / doctors who can assist to work through the block.
For whole classes or populations, a paradigm shift is required, a whole new way of thinking, as you suggest in your post.
It seems to me that the recent words and actions of Kanye West and Candace Owens for example, are opening up a new way to think and a new vision for the black community regarding the 'collective memory' of slavery.
Thanks for the insightful post.
great
Racial inequality exists not because of a "slave mentality", but because white supremacy has been institutionalized in finance, housing, and in social matters.
Stop blaming the mindset of the oppressed for their oppression.
Curated for #informationwar (by @wakeupnd)
Relevance: Knowledge is power.