Culture And Oppression Analysis

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Pages: 9

Oppression is the unjust or cruel exercise of authority of power (Merriam- Webster, 1998). A major component is the asymmetric power of relationships between societies, communities, people, and groups. When examining, common synonyms of oppression the terms persecution, abuse, maltreatment, ill-treatment, suffering, hardship, misery, repression, suppression, and cruelty. Oppression in an essence is the inequality in power and the unjustly denied opportunity. In some instances, individuals that are experiencing this abuse can experience prejudice, exploitation, violence, and prohibitions. Over time, the conceptual meaning of oppression has changed from political and societal standpoints. This change is probably due to the multiple factors …show more content…
Some of these factors, for instance, are different due to living different lifestyles or living in individualistic societies versus collectivistic. Other differences are due to the instability within one's culture versus the stability they perceive in others. Other prominent factors are religion and economic status. Ethnic identity is an affiliative construct, where an individual is viewed by themselves and by others as belonging to a particular ethnic or cultural group. An individual can choose to associate with a group especially if other choices are available. Since the process of ethnic identity is diverse due to one's race and ethnicity many researchers have created different ways to explain the process of ethnic identity. Thus, many models such as Marcia (1966), Cross (1995), Helm's (1995), Phinney (1996), and Hardiman's (1982) have been created. There are multiple ethnic identity models, but overall the stages of ethnic identity development can be summarized. In the first stage, the individual has never explored their ethnic identity and have only accepted what they have known. In the second stage, an event occurred and triggered the individual’s consciousness. The third stage, the individual rejects their culture, and they begin to exploring it. The fourth stage, they accept their culture and develop an ethnic identity and have open views on others. Many factors that impact therapy and also affect the individual's ethnic identity are migration history, identity attachment, social class, self-efficacy and self-worth, and their ethnic association. Due to so many factors contextual factors, it is crucial for a therapist to understand where among these stages their clients