Who am I? Who are my people?
Christopher E Hughbanks
AHE 199 Lecture
Residence Education
University Housing and Dining Services
Oregon State University
Powerpoint Adapted From: Adams, M., Bell, L. & Griffin (2007) “Teaching for
Diversity and Social Justice,” New York: Routledge.

 We focus on social justice issues in the
United States
 This one way to understand the dynamics of social justice and oppression
 This is a snap shot of a dynamic process

•Focuses on appreciating differences between social identity group
•Group’s traditions, language, style of dress, cultural practices, religious beliefs and practices …
•Lacks an emphasis on power dynamics or differential access to resources and institutional support needed to live safe, satisfying, productive lives

•Focuses on understanding the social power dynamics that result in some social groups having privilege, status, and access while other groups are disadvantaged, oppressed, and denied access
•Focuses on individual and social action to eliminate oppression

•A specific marker of how we define ourselves at any particular moment in life
(Kirk & Okazawa-Rey)
•A set of behavioral or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of a group
(American Heritage dictionary)

• Comes about through the interaction between one’s internal sense of who one is (based upon one’s social grouping) and the views of oneself and one’s group reflected back by others in society (Kirk & Okazawa-Rey)
•Different contexts may highlight different dimensions of identity
•Salience of identities varies in different situations and throughout life (Tatum)

•An ongoing process - the result of a complex interplay among individual decisions and choices, life events, community recognition and expectations, and societal categorization, classification and socialization - micro, mezo and macro level (Kirk & Okazwa-Rey)
•
Answers Questions;
•Who Am I? Who do I want to be?
•Who do others think I am and want me to be?
•Who and what do societal and community institutions say I am?
•Which social groups do I want to affiliate with?

•Characteristics that make you an individual
•How we see and feel about ourselves
•Personality, hobbies, activities, geographic location, academic or social issues

•Social Group (How people see / categorize me):
•A collection of people who share a range of physical, cultural or social characteristics within one of the categories of social identity (Harro,
2000)
•e.g., woman, Mexican, middle class, bi-sexual,
Catholic, etc
•Social Identity - (How I see myself)
•One’s sense of oneself as belonging to a particular social group (Harro, 2000)

 Sex
 Race
 Class
 Religion
 Ability / Disability
 Age
 Gender
 Sexual Orientation
 Ethnicity
 Culture
 Language

Example Social Identity Categories and Social
Group Memberships
Social Identity Categories Social Group Members
Race
Sex
Gender
Religion
Sexual Orientation
Class
Ability
Age
Black, White, Asian, Latino, Native
American, Multiracial
Female, Male, Intersex
Men, Women, Transgender,
Genderqueer
Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Hindu,
Buddhist, Mormon
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Heterosexual
Owning, Upper Middle, Middle,
Working Class, Poor
Disabled, Temporarily Able-Bodied
Elders, Adults, Young People

• The point where all the features embodied in a person overlap (multiple identities)
•A way of expressing the core of a person’s existence in the social and political world placing us in relationships to other, the dominant culture of the US and the rest of the word
•We live with multiple identities, some are privileged and some are targeted

 Advantaged
(agent, dominant, privileged)
– People within each social identity category with greater access to social power and privilege
 Targeted
(oppressed, disadvantaged)
– People within each social identity category whose access to power is limited or denied

 Unearned access to resources (social power) only readily available to some people as a result of their advantaged social group membership.
 Examples:
– Feeling physically safe in most places
– Having connections to help you reach career goals
– Having access to Health Care
– Having your family legally sanctioned and protected through marriage
– Being seen as an individual rather than stereotyped as a member of a social group

Prejudice: A set of negative personal beliefs about a social group that leads individuals to pre-judge people from that group or the group in general, regardless of individual differences among members of that group.
Discrimination: The act of denying members of a particular group equal access to societal resources (ie. education, jobs, housing, health care, etc.) - occurs when prejudiced feelings move into the realm of behavior

 A system that maintains advantage and disadvantage based on social group memberships and operates, intentionally and unintentionally on individual, institutional, and cultural levels.

Matrix of Oppression
Social Identity
Categories
Privileged
Social Groups
Border Social
Groups
Oppressed
Social Groups
Ism
(type of
Oppression)
Racism Race White People Biracial people
Sex Bio Men
Gender Gender conforming Bio
Men and Women
Sexual
Orientation
Class
Heterosexual
People
Rich, Upper
Class People
Ability/Disability Temporarily Able-
Bodied People
Religion
Age
Protestants
Adults
Transsexual,
Intersex People
Gender
Ambiguous Bio
Men and Women
Bisexual People
Middle Class
People
People with
Temporary
Disabilities
Roman Catholic
(historically)
Young Adults
Asian, Black
Latina/o, Native
People
Bio Women
Transgender,
Genderqueer,
Intersex People
Lesbians, Gay
Men
Working Class,
Poor People
People with
Disabilities
Jews, Muslims,
Hindus, Sikhs
Elders, Young
People
Sexism
AND
Transgender
Oppression
Heterosexism
Classism
Ableism
Religious
Oppression
Ageism/Adultism

Advantaged
•Valued
•Privileged
•“Namers”
•“Normal”
•Accepted
•Visible
•Un-self conscious
•Ignorant of target groups’ experiences
•Dehumanized
Targeted
•Devalued
•Suspected/blamed
•Stereotyped / Labeled
•“Abnormal”
•Excluded
•Invisible
•Conscious of self
•Knowledgeable of advantaged group
•Dehumanized

•What social identities do your close group of friends and family hold? Are there trends, commonalities?
•Which social identities were the hardest / easiest to identify for myself?
• Where are my learning edges? Which social identities categories would I like to learn more about?
• How will my residence hall community get to know each other’s personal and social identities
•How will I address conflict connected to social identities that surfaces in my residential community?

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•
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Attitudes and actions that reflect prejudice against a social group.
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•
•
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Media
Housing
Policies, laws, rules, norms, and customs enacted by organizations and social institutions that disadvantage some social groups and advantage other social groups.
Government
Employment
Religion
Legal System
Health Care
Education

Social norms, roles, rituals, language, music, and art that reflect and reinforce the belief that one social group is superior to another.
 Values and norms (Politeness, Etiquette)
 Language (Dialects)
 Standards of beauty
 Holidays
 Gender roles
 Societal expectations



 Accepting the dominant way of thinking and justifying oppression as normal or part of the natural order.
 The unknowing or naive collusion with the maintenance of social oppression.

Levels & Types of Oppression
Individual Institutional
Conscious
Cultural
An adult openly dismisses the thinking of a young person simply because of their age.
Someone who has been convicted of a crime often cannot vote, rent, or receive state benefits like welfare.
The media normalizes violence against women, women as domestic, women as sexual objects, women as subordinant to men..
Unconscious Organizing a party at an expensive restaurant where your working class friend must choose between spending time with you and having something to eat.
Many U.S. schools plan vacations around Christian holidays.
The idea that wisdom comes with age and that young people’s ideas should not be heeded.

•How does oppression impact the RA and CRF positions?
•Where does oppression (racism, classism, homphobia, sexism) exist on campus and in the residential community?
• How will I address issues of social justice and oppression in my residential community?
• What offices on campus can help me do this work?
•What questions do I still have? What aspects of oppression were new to me? Where can I go for more information?
• What happens when an issue arises in the community and I don’t know what to do?