{"id":29,"date":"2026-06-27T21:20:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T01:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/powerdynamicspostsecondary\/chapter\/oppression\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T21:54:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T01:54:39","slug":"oppression","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/power-dynamics-postsecondary\/chapter\/oppression\/","title":{"raw":"Oppression","rendered":"Oppression"},"content":{"raw":"In this section we will examine the concept of oppression, the unequal power between groups and discuss how oppression is systemic.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_239\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1024\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/powerdynamicspostsecondary\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/06\/wikiimages-racial-segregation-67692_1920.jpg\"><img class=\"wp-image-239 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.openedmb.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/159\/2025\/08\/racial-segregation-67692_1280-1024x730.jpg#fixme\" alt=\"Historical black and white photo of a person drinking from a \u2018COLORED\u2019 water fountain.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"730\" \/><\/a> Figure 1.1. A young boy at a segregated drinking fountain at the Halifax County Courthouse, Halifax, North Carolina,\u00a0 USA, 1938.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<h2 class=\"textbox__title\">Pause to reflect<\/h2>\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n\r\nTake a few moments to reflect on experiences where you felt you had power to change or influence a desired outcome. Note some experiences where you felt like you had\u00a0<strong>no<\/strong>\u00a0power to change or influence a desired outcome.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h2>What's oppression?<\/h2>\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\"The prejudice and discrimination of one social group against another, backed by institutional power. Oppression occurs when one group is able to enforce its prejudice and discrimination throughout society because it controls the institutions. Oppression occurs at the group or macro level and goes well beyond individuals. Sexism, racism, classism, ableism, and heterosexism are specific forms of oppression.\"<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Sensoy &amp; D\u2019Angelo, 2017, p. 61<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nPost secondary institutions are places where people from different backgrounds, experiences, identities and socioeconomic status come together. Thus, when people interact, they bring with them elements from these areas and that can shape the way they work with other people.\r\n\r\nFor example, the professor is the person who has set up the learning and expectations of student behaviour, such as the assignments students must do or how they mark these assignments, and students must learn to take the cue from the professors about what is acceptable.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;","rendered":"<p>In this section we will examine the concept of oppression, the unequal power between groups and discuss how oppression is systemic.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_239\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-239\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/powerdynamicspostsecondary\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/06\/wikiimages-racial-segregation-67692_1920.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-239 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.openedmb.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/159\/2025\/08\/racial-segregation-67692_1280-1024x730.jpg#fixme\" alt=\"Historical black and white photo of a person drinking from a \u2018COLORED\u2019 water fountain.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"730\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-239\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 1.1. A young boy at a segregated drinking fountain at the Halifax County Courthouse, Halifax, North Carolina,\u00a0 USA, 1938.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<h2 class=\"textbox__title\">Pause to reflect<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p>Take a few moments to reflect on experiences where you felt you had power to change or influence a desired outcome. Note some experiences where you felt like you had\u00a0<strong>no<\/strong>\u00a0power to change or influence a desired outcome.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>What&#8217;s oppression?<\/h2>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8220;The prejudice and discrimination of one social group against another, backed by institutional power. Oppression occurs when one group is able to enforce its prejudice and discrimination throughout society because it controls the institutions. Oppression occurs at the group or macro level and goes well beyond individuals. Sexism, racism, classism, ableism, and heterosexism are specific forms of oppression.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Sensoy &amp; D\u2019Angelo, 2017, p. 61<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Post secondary institutions are places where people from different backgrounds, experiences, identities and socioeconomic status come together. Thus, when people interact, they bring with them elements from these areas and that can shape the way they work with other people.<\/p>\n<p>For example, the professor is the person who has set up the learning and expectations of student behaviour, such as the assignments students must do or how they mark these assignments, and students must learn to take the cue from the professors about what is acceptable.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-29","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":28,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/power-dynamics-postsecondary\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/power-dynamics-postsecondary\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/power-dynamics-postsecondary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/power-dynamics-postsecondary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/power-dynamics-postsecondary\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":398,"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/power-dynamics-postsecondary\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/29\/revisions\/398"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/power-dynamics-postsecondary\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/28"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/power-dynamics-postsecondary\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/29\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/power-dynamics-postsecondary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/power-dynamics-postsecondary\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=29"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/power-dynamics-postsecondary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=29"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/power-dynamics-postsecondary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}