Oppression

After Young begins the chapter with a brief introduction and defines her "new" use of the word oppression, she lays out the way she will be using the term "social group". This is important in her work because oppression, in her definition, only happens to social groups but is not necessarily perpetrated by a separate, identifiable oppressing group. She says that "a social group is a collective of persons differentiated from at least one other group by cultural forms, practices, or a way of life." She explains her use of the term is beyond mere aggregates or associations, it is defined primarily by a sense of identity, one of which usually emerges because of aggregate or associational differences. Those are necessary, but not sufficient, categories in defining a social group. Young allows for the fact that groups can be oppressed before they are even conscious of being a separate group, as in the case of secular Jews in Germany, but once they experience the common history of being oppressed, they necessarily begin to inhabit a new identity as a separate social group.

According to Young, the "five faces of oppression" are exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence. Exploitation basically means that one group benefits from anothers expenditure of energy, without reciprocation. Marginalization means keeping certain social groups "down" by not allowing them equal access to means for wealth (keeping them out of the workforce), as well as not giving them equal basic rights that the rest of society may enjoy. Marginalization basically has to do with certain social groups' lack of equality in the public sphere. Powerlessness, as defined by Young, means a division of "planners" and "executers", where the executers have no real voice in the decision-making, and are thus left "powerless" due to their inability to contribute to decisions that affect the conditions of their lives due to their working class status. Usually these two groups are divded as "professionals" and "non-professionals". The fourth category of oppression is culturual imperialism, which is the most indirect and psychological of the categories. Cultural imperialism means that a dominant group has "exclusive and primary access to... the means of interpretation and communication in a society". This is achived by the dominant group calling their own cultural expression the normal or universal expression, which leads to usually both a dismissal and stereotyping of other, different cultural expressions that may be present. These non-dominant cultural groups are oppressed because their perspective is marked as deviant and not taken seriously. The final category of oppression is violence. Young srgues that systemic violence against certain groups is not only an individual moral failing of those who perpetrate it, but it is usually societally expected and in that way becomes a form of oppression. As long as it is tolerated and approaches legitimacy through this toleration (basically meaning punishment is not issued), it continues to be a form of oppression.

According to these categories that define oppression, and Young's assertion that any social group that fits any of them is oppressed, I believe there certianly are a high number of oppressed groups in today's society. Although there are definitely many oppressed groups who exist outside of America, for the purposes of this assignment, I will mean "American society" when I say "society". The first example that springs to mind is Muslims/Arabs. They are certainly marginalized in that they may find it more difficult to get hired than other groups, and they most likely have less privacy than most other social groups in America as of now. They also suffer from "cultural imperialism" and violence. Aged people also suffer from marginalization and cultural imperialism, though this particular social group may be the most interesting of them all because they may very well have contributed to the marginlization and cultural oppression of the elderly when they themselves were young, and now are suffering a cruel fate drawn by their own hands. These are social groups that are widely accepted as being oppressed in some way, no matter whose definition is being used; now I want to point out some social groups that are oppressed (using Young's definitions) that one does not typically think of as being oppressed. First, ugly people. They are marginalized and suffer from cultural imperialism in a culture obsessed with beauty. Second, nerds. They also suffer from cultural imperialism and suffer from systemic violence (although this tide can be seen as turning in the last decade). Drug dealers suffer from exploitation similar to that of the working class, and since they belong to the drug sub-culture, they also suffer from cultural imperialism. If they are in jail for dealing drugs or even are ex-cons, they suffer state-supported marginalization by being refused jobs as well as the right to vote in some cases. This also applies to all persons who are in or have previously been in jail. Another absurd example is sex offenders. Not only are they marginalized in the same way jailbirds are, they aditionally lose a right to privacy and suffer systemic violence in, and out of, the jail system. Every single sub-culture that exists suffers from cultural imperialism. In particular we should think of the rave culture, the goth culture, the punk culture, the pro-anorexia culture, the vegan culture, and more! It can even be argued that as philosophy students, we suffer from cultural imperialism because our culture reveres science and has turned its back on the humanities. It is even possible to argue further that we are marginalized because of our degree in the humanities, in that it is much more difficult to get a job for us than it is for the societally respected persons with scientific degrees.

*All quotes taken from chapter 2 of: Iris Young. Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton University Press: New Jersey, 1990.

Test post, stealing text from something weird.

Hollihaan koulu on aloittanut toimintansa syksyllä 1960.

Koulu sijaitsee puistossa Suntin rannalla luonnon keskellä aivan kaupungin keskustan tuntumassa. Koulun läheisyydessä kävelymatkan päässä ovat: urheilutalo, keskusurheilukenttä, uima- sekä jäähalli. Koulun pihamaalla on opetuspuisto sekä koulupuutarha.

Lukuvuonna 2006-07 koulun oppilasmäärä on n.370. Koulussa on henkilökuntaa n. 35 henkeä.

Koulu on kolmesarjainen ja siellä ovat: suomenkieliset luokat ja ruotsin- sekä englanninkieliset kielikylpyluokat. Lisäksi koululla on maahanmuuttajaopetusta.