POLITICS

What is Systemic Oppression?

Recent events have made it necessary to explain several social concepts related to bias, oppression, and racism, and the fact that these things can exist in a systematic fashion, through institutions, even if you cannot find anyone who is personally racist. My recent piece on social privilege touches on the fact of systematic oppression, but I believe that an explanation of how systematic oppression can emerge is in order.

In this analysis, I’m going to use come concepts from systems theory, including the idea of networks, self-organization, positive and negative feedback, and path-dependency. These concepts, I think, will help us to understand what systematic oppression really is. Understanding it will help us understand how we got to where we are, and perhaps point us in a different direction.

Feedback Loops

Systems have two kinds of feedback: positive and negative feedback. There is also bipolar feedback, but that requires both positive and negative feedback taking place simultaneously.

Negative feedback works like a thermostat. When you reach the point you are trying to reach, the system slows or shuts down. When quantity supply is equal to quantity demand, there will be neither shortages nor overstock of that good, meaning the price of the good in question is the…