Critical Reflection #5
Marion Young defines and explains the concept of Oppression as structural, as opposed to the traditional sense of conquest and colonial domination. Oppression as portrayed in a structural format is, “The vast and deep injustices some groups suffer as a consequence of often unconscious assumptions and reactions of well meaning people in ordinary interactions, media and cultural stereotypes, and structural features of bureaucratic hierarchies and market mechanisms” (Young-Five Faces of Oppression). These unconscious biases and reactions can be observed in everyday life. Racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, some social movements asserted, are their own forms of oppression in separation from those of class, even though they may coincide with class oppression. Even within these oppressed groups there are still privileged people within the group. As a result, Young expresses to fully explain the concept of Oppression we must examine the concept in five categories that can describe any group: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence. All these faces of oppression helps avoid exclusions and reductions. These five objective categories can be viewed as criteria for determining whether individuals and groups are oppressed. As a result, by applying this criteria to the situation of any group makes it possible to, “Compare the oppressions without reducing them to a common essence or claiming that one is more fundamental than another” (Young-Five Faces of Oppression).
Ada Isasi-Diaz defines oppression as the perspective of people facing injustice. The source of these injustices can lead to different modes of oppression, which are interrelated but do not operate the same way. Therefore, she views oppression in five different modes: exploitation, marginalization, ethnoracism, powerlessness, and structural violence. When referring to the oppressed and the impoverished, she refers to those who are aware of their oppression and struggle to liberate themselves. Those who are oppressed and impoverished are conscious of their oppression, and know their reality is not due solely to personal shortcomings, or seek an individualistic way out of their situation or attempt to simply “move up” within oppressive structures. As a result, she identifies herself as oppressed and impoverished because she is a middle-class Latina who suffered economic exploitation because her salary was not the same in comparison to her male colleagues. This wage difference reminds herself that she has to struggle for societal changes even if the changes “cost her” some of the economic advantages and privileges she has being a middle-class Latina.
The significance of observing and articulating of the day-to-day lo cotidiano experiences are the, “Practices and beliefs we have inherited, and with those habitual judgments that are part of our “facing life” of how we face and what we do with our reality” (Asasi-Diaz Mujerista Discourse). This represents the the problems people face daily due to the limitations imposed by the material-historical reality one faces every day. Lo cotidiano also refers to how we face these challenges and overcome these limitations to make ends meet. She explains this notion of lo cotidiano by giving the example of a disheveled woman who appeared stressed and a boy alongside her who looked healthy and well dressed. She noticed the woman to be holding a donut and coffee which she assumed she bought from a convenience store. In addition, the boy also commented, “Mom you smell” (Asasi-Diaz Mujerista Discourse). With this new knowledge Diaz realized that woman is his mother and inferred that the mother probably poured all her attention on the little boy and had little time, energy, or money left to get herself clean. With this realization, she compared it to her own life where she realized that she takes things for granted such as having clean clothing or being able to shower in the morning. With these two different realities, it shows some of the limitations that the woman may face in comparison to Diaz. Furthermore, an example of lo cotidiano in my own life can be when I am babysitting. The children I babysit are very picky eaters and can throw away food if they did not like it or is not cooked to their “standards”. Once the food is thrown away, the mother always gives them another option and takes the time to cook them a new meal. In my household, my mother would always say whatever she put in front of me I had to eat it. I was not allowed to waste food and if I did not like that particular dinner, she would not go out of her way to make another one because she was always tired from work or it was all we had for food. In this example, my mom and the mom of the children I babysit are able to provide food for their children, but the exception to both scenarios was that the children I babysit were allowed to waste food and in my family it was unacceptable. Their mom had the extra time in the day to make food because she works mostly at home and has the extra funds to provide alternate options, but my mom had to work forty plus hours a week in order to allow for my sisters and I to attend private schools on top of having to provide us dinners. Therefore, it was seen as rude if we wasted the food she cooked for my sisters and I. As a result, 2–3 ways I could start to observe lo cotidiano experiences in the lives of people I work with at Young Moms Marin is by observing how the mothers from the program interact with their children and compare it to my own experiences with my mother or the children’s mothers I babysit for. As well as observe the way the children talk amongst each other about their daily lives.
