Introduction to Philosophy Research Assignment

Introduction to Philosophy
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Oppression can be defined in different ways, but the definitions are related in a way. Oppression according to Iris Marion Young can be defined as the act of denying people things that complete them both in mind and body. These things can be education, space, opportunities and any other things that make people feel complete. Oppression may be caused by a few people's interests, desires or wishes which bring about some practices or habits which raise questions to people. Oppression is making other people feel incomplete humans by taking away something from them. This paper will examine the various types of oppression that people undergo in their daily lives.
According to Iris Young, oppression exists in five ways which include; Exploitation, Violence, Marginalization, Powerlessness and Cultural Imperialism. Exploitation is a way of using people's energy for your good and not compensating them equally for what they give (Iris 2017). For example, a company can make labors work for long hours for better profitability of the company and fail to pay those laborers fairly; the company is said to be exploiting these employees. Exploitation goes hand in hand with class. The society is divided into classes according to people's standards of living. The rich occupy higher classes with the poor being at the lower classes — the rich end up oppressing the poor who depend on them in many ways. For example, the rich employ the poor and pay them poorly yet due to their state the poor can't complain.
Marginalization is the act of excluding a given group of people from getting involved in a given activity or from even staying in a given area. Marginalization can be based on race, gender or religion. This group of people after being excluded they are burned from participating from a given act, and they have entirely pushed away. It is the worst form of exploitation because it brings about division among people. For example, the US marginalization is based on race. Black Americans or Indians are not allowed to participate in some of the events (Iveson et al. 2018) Top jobs are reserved for the Americans, single mothers and children are treated unfairly, low-class people have no jobs, the elderly people are fired from their jobs among others are forms of marginalization practiced in the US and other countries.
Powerlessness is another form of oppression explained by Iris. As stated earlier, the society is divided into different classes according to the standards of living. The rich who have high classes possess power while the poor remain powerless. The power comes with money and wealth which the poor do not have. Those in power give orders to the powerless who do not have an option rather than following the orders, even if they are exploiting them in one way or another. The oppression about power comes in different ways. For example, those in power make decisions which will affect the powerless, yet they are not involved in the decision making. Misuse of funds meant for the powerless is done by those in power among many other things.
Powerlessness is the worst form of oppression according to Paulo Freire, who is a philosopher. This is because the oppressed don't even understand they are being oppressed therefore they end up oppressing themselves more (Iris 2017). Powerlessness creates a culture of silence in that the oppressed are not aware of what's happening. Hence, they cannot speak up. They suffer in silence because the culture dictates so. African American slavery is a good example where people were being tortured, but not allowed to communicate their feelings and thoughts. They did have a voice and will to speak out about what was happening to them. This culture of silence causes the life of suffering to people who could have been saved if only they communicated.
Violence is an obvious form of oppression. The most common one is domestic violence where their husbands beat women over family issues. Violence can...