Oppression : A New Definition

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to conclude with a new definition of oppression. The project is descriptive and analytical; the ambition is to construct a definition that correctly captures the social structures involved and that the definition can be of help in the emancipatory struggle of oppressed groups. The theories on oppression by Ann Cudd, Marilyn Frye and Alison Bailey have been my starting points. These theories are critically discussed and I argue for whether or not I regard their understandings of central concepts as useful for a comprehensive concept of oppression. My conclusion is that oppression is an enclosing structure that, by way of institutional practice, harms members of a social group, while members of another, or other, corresponding social groups benefit from the harm suffered by those oppressed. I also pose four conditions which, if satisfied, show that a person is oppressed. The conditions are: The harm condition; the enclosing structure condition; the social group condition; and the privileged group condition. One of the advantages of this new definition is that it involves the aspect of privilege and in turn the fundamental feature of injustice without including a condition of coercion which I believe may prevent oppressed persons from recognizing the oppression against them. The definition also contains such general conditions which make it independent of any specific form of oppression such as sexism or racism etc. Due to this general character, it largely corresponds to the everyday conception of oppression although it does not include ?non-structural? forms of supposed oppression.