SWG533 Assignment: Understanding Privilege and Oppression

SWG533 Assignment: Understanding Privilege and Oppression

The purpose of this assignment is for you to identify the privileges that are inherent to you and your intersecting cultural identities based on the society in which you live, and to reflect on how the presence and/or absence of certain privileges can and will impact your work as a social worker.

During class you have been reviewing materials on the way intergroup relations (relations between different groups) can be characterized by privilege and oppression. In thinking about the various groups that we are a part of, we realize that most of us are members of both privileged and oppressed groups simultaneously.

This assignment asks you to focus on two particular social identity groups you are a member of – one, an identity group that is privileged (dominant) in society, and another that experiences oppression (subordinate).

Review the following materials to further your learning and support your work with this assignment (especially the Goodman article):

PowerPoint – Review of Privilege and Oppression

Goodman, D. J. (2015). Oppression and privilege: Two sides of the same coin. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 18(1), 1-14.

• · Course Textbook – see glossary for specific pages about oppression and privilege

Instructions:

Write an essay responding to the following 3 prompts (you DO NOT have to answer each sub-question (i.e., bullet points) verbatim, but they should guide your overall response into a coherent essay that illustrates how you have experienced oppression and privilege.

1. Being a Member of a Group who Experiences Oppression  (minimum 500-word response):

What is the subordinate (oppressed) group that you are a member of? What is the dominant (privileged) group in relation to this? What feelings do you experience as a member of a subordinate group?

Relate your experience in terms of some facets of subordinate group membership, consider:

• • In what ways is your group made visible or invisible? In what circumstances?
  • In what ways do you feel socially less powerful than the dominant group?
  • What kinds of stereotypes exist about your group?
  • What kind of prejudices have you personally experienced?
  • What forms of discrimination, marginalization, and/or exploitation have you been exposed to?

Include at least one or more example of your experience to illustrate the characteristics, consider:

• • How does this experience affect your daily life? For example: How does it affect your sense of both group identity and self-identity? What are some costs and benefits? What are some joys and struggles you experience being in a subordinate group?
  • What are some parts of today’s society (that is, institutions, organizations, events and so on) you feel that you don’t have access or entry to as a member of the subordinate group?
  • What are some issues of differences and/or conflicts between your group and the dominant one?
  • What parts of this dominant-subordinate relationship would you like to see changed? And how? Who would be involved in this change process?

2.  Being a Member of a Group who Experiences Privilege (minimum 500-word response):

What dominant (privileged) group are you a part of? What are some groups that are subordinated (oppressed) in relation to yours? What kind of feelings do you experience as a member of this dominant group?

In what ways are some dominant group characteristics part of your experience, consider:

• • How is your group more socially powerful? What forms of power does your group hold? Who are some agents of this power?
  • What institutions are used to exert this power? In what ways?
  • At what level (individual or group) do you primarily define/identify yourself?
  • What privileges do you have as a member of the dominant group?
  • In what ways do you see the culture of the dominant group setting the norms/standards?

Include at least one or more example of your experience to illustrate the characteristics, consider:

• • How does being in a dominant group affect your life today? What are some costs and benefits?
  • What are some struggles and joys you have had being in this group?
  • What parts of this dominant-subordinate relationship would you like to see changed? And how? Who would be involved in this change process?

3. Some questions to consider and reflect on at the end of your paper (minimum 100-word response):

• • What did you learn about yourself in doing this assignment? Consider what issues, if any, the assignment raised for you?
  • How does this assignment relate to your experience of becoming a culturally grounded social worker?
  • How does this assignment add to your understanding of yourself, dominant-subordinate (privileged-oppressed) relationships, and society in general?

Your final paper should be a minimum of 1,100-words as outlined above. This is about 4-5 pages double-spaced when following APA guidelines.

• You may use the pronoun “I” (or first person) in your paper
• You DO NOT need to submit a title page or abstract for this assignment.
• DO USE APA formatting for this assignment – double spaced, headers, page numbers, etc.
• You ONLY need a reference page if you chose to cite any literature, however this is NOT required for this assignment.