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Liberation Theory:
A Working Framework
— By Ricky Sherover-Marcuse
- Liberation is
both the undoing of the effects and the elimination of the
causes of social oppression. The achievement of human liberation
on a global scale will require far-reaching changes at the
institutional level and at the level of group and individual
interactions. These changes will involve transforming oppressive
behavioral patterns and "unlearning" oppressive attitudes
and assumptions.
- No one is naturally
or genetically oppressive; no human being is born as an oppressor.
No one is naturally or genetically destined to be oppressed;
no one is born to be oppressed.
- Oppression is
the systematic and pervasive mistreatment of individuals on
the basis of their membership in various groups, which are
disadvantaged by the institutionalized imbalances in social
power in a particular society. Oppression includes both institutionalized
or "normalized" mistreatment as well as instances of violence.
It includes the invalidation, denial, or the non-recognition
of the complete humanness (the goodness, uniqueness, smartness,
powerfulness, etc.) of those who are members of the mistreated
group.
- Biological/cultural/ethnic/sexual/religious/age
differences between human beings are never the cause of oppression.
The use of these differences to explain either why certain
groups of people are oppressed (or) why certain groups of
people behave oppressively, functions as a justification of
oppression.
- Differences in
class, in social and economic power, in educational opportunity
and achievement, in health and physical well being, are the
expression and result of institutionalized inequalities in
opportunity. Such differences perpetuate and increase the
social imbalances in power and thereby serve to maintain all
forms of oppression.
- The perpetuation
of oppression is made possible by the conditioning of new
generations of human beings into the role of being oppressed
and the role of being oppressive. In a society in which there
is oppression, everyone (at one time or another) is socialized
into both of these roles. People who are the target group
of a particular form of mistreatment are socialized to become
victims; people who are the non-target group of a particular
form of mistreatment are socialized to become perpetrators-
either in a direct, active form or in an indirect, passive
form. Neither of these roles serves our best interests as
human beings.
- The conditioning
of both groups, the target group and the non-target group
of any given oppression takes place through a specific form
of oppression, the oppression of young people. In a society
in which there is oppression, all young people will be the
targets of this systematic mistreatment, i.e. all young people
will be oppressed.
- In addition to
force and the threat of force, oppression is perpetuated through
the generation and recycling of systematic misinformation
about the nature, history, and the abilities of the target
group. -Because this misinformation is socially empowered
and sanctioned, it functions as the justification for the
continued mistreatment of the target group.
- Each group targeted
by oppression inevitably "internalizes" the mistreatment and
the misinformation about itself. The target group thus "mis-believes"
about itself the same misinformation which pervades the social
system. This "mis-believing" expresses itself in behavior
and interactions between individual members of the target
group which repeat the content of their oppression. Internalized
oppression is always an involuntary reaction to the experience
of oppression on the part of the target group.) To blame the
target group in any way for having internalized the consequences
of their oppression is itself an act of oppression.
- The "positive
re-enforcements" and social rewards that people in a non-target
group receive for going along with their conditioning would
not in themselves be sufficient to secure their acceptance
of the social role of the perpetrator. The "acceptance" of
this role is first made possible as a result of the individual's
own experience of oppression, originally as a young person.
- People who are
the targets of any particular form of oppression have resisted
and attempted to resist their oppression in any way they could.
The fact that their resistance is not generally recognized
is itself a feature of the oppression.
- People who are
the non-target of any particular oppression have resisted
and attempted to resist their socialization into the oppressive
role. The fact that this resistance is not generally recognized
is also a feature of the oppression.
- Being socialized
into the oppressed role is a painful experience for all people
of the target group. Being socialized into the oppressor role
is a painful experience for all people of the non-target group
--- in spite of the positive re-enforcements and material
benefits that go along with this role.
- Part of the conditioning
experience is the misinformation that socialization into these
roles is not painful. In some cases the pain of the conditioning
is recognized for people in the target group. It is seldom
recognized for people of the non-target group. The conditioning
experiences are portrayed as "a normal part of growing up".
For the most part the original awareness that this socialization
was painful is obscured, or forgotten.
- The perpetuation
of any particular oppression requires that the pain of being
socialized into either the oppressed or the oppressor role
be forgotten, or discounted. The discounting or "normalizing"
of the painful aspects of the conditioning process thus becomes
a means of perpetuating all forms of oppression.
- Liberation is
possible. It is possible to recover the buried memories of
our socialization, to share our stories and heal the hurts
imposed by the conditioning, to act in the present in a humane
and caring manner, to rebuild our human connections and to
change our world.
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