Oppression Fashionable Sociology

Why am I listening to this  Heaps of debates are about messages in society and how different actors shape them  This seminar is about how to think about the way messages and ideas interact in modern society  It’s basically a look at sociological theory in debating

How does Oppression Work?  Society subtly influences our beliefs about the world through a whole variety of means  Education  Images  Political Rhetoric  Attitudes  We refer to the way this influence is exerted as “discourse”

Oppression Mechanisms  Expectations  We have a particular idea about how a woman/gay person/black person ought to behave  Identity  We associate more with people with whom we share a sense of community  Hierarchy  We implicitly see some identities as better or worse or more or less threatening  Backlash  Threat to power, fear of change

 These structures are maintained because members of minority groups have less power in discourses  Their voices are ignored  Their voices are actively shut out  They lack the means to access a voice

What are the consequences of oppression?  Expectations are internalised  Expectations are policed

How can we change identity and attitudes? Authority Self-interest/cognitive dissonance Changes in the engagement that people have with minorities Changes in the images people see Changes in the power of institutions that propagate narratives Childhood messages

Application to Debates  Think about how narratives change, and how the model is an example of that  Compare different mechanisms for change and think about which ones might be stronger than others

Making an Oppression Argument  Outline an oppression mechanism  Expectations  Identity  Hierarchy  Backlash  Explain why the model is better/worse for the mechanism  Or, use it to characterise