Oppression at the Individual, Institutional, and Cultural Levels
• Individual-level oppression: Individual attitudes and behaviors that directly harm other
individuals and therefore contribute to the system of oppression (privilege for dominant
groups, disadvantages for subordinated groups).
• Institutional-level oppression: Policies and laws that contribute to the system of oppression
(privilege for dominant groups, disadvantage for subordinated groups).
• Sometimes the policy or law does this by design (de jure – by how the law or policy is
written); sometimes the policy or law does this in its effects/outcomes or how it is applied or
enforced (de facto).
• Cultural-level oppression: Widely-shared beliefs, norms, and “stories” that are part of the
dominant culture of a society/social context. These are used by those who believe or invoke
them to justify the system of oppression (privilege for dominant groups, disadvantages for
subordinated groups).
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