Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Negative impacts of drinking alcohol
Negative impacts of drinking alcohol
Effects of alcoholic beverages essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Negative impacts of drinking alcohol
Reflecting on class readings and discussions on power, privilege, and oppression, gave me an opportunity to re-evaluate my Bio psychosocial (BPS) from many different angles; particularly when analyzing the different experiences, and approaches expressed by other classmates. I found that power, privilege and oppression played a huge part in the development of my clients as well as in my own development as a man and professional in the human services field. I also found many challenges that existed with the approach to clients within the different agencies I’ve worked throughout my career; manly with being able to identify the issues experiences by each client, to properly assess how they are currently functioning as adults in todays’ society. In reviewing my individual BPS and how it relates to these factors and my own agency experience, I found that oppression, in particular, played a huge role in my own personal development. Looking at things through an anti oppressive lens, I was not aware of how profound macro-level and micro forces have affected my life and how they’ve also influenced how I’ve affected the lives of the clients I serve.
One of my first experiences with oppression was while growing up in the mid 80’s during the onset of the AIDS epidemic. During that time, I was becoming more aware of my sexual orientation and how being an African American homosexual male during that time was socially unaccepted, even more so than it is today. I experienced cruelty on many levels, from growing up in a household filled with women, who insisted on calling me a sissy, to dealing with many situations where it was implied that I wasn’t a strong enough man. This was my first experience with Anti- heterosexism, another form o...
... middle of paper ...
...m casual to problematic. No matter how often or how little I consumed it was the causing problem in my life at work, school, home, and relationships. I do not remember what promoted my recovery process, but I knew that I had to change.
Now sober for a decade. I see things clearly now. When writing this summary, I’m able to view things with a new set of eyes allowing me to see how an Anti Oppressive lens looks and feel like especially experiencing it first hand. Sobriety is the greatest gift I ever gave myself. Sobriety for me is about discipline and definitely a new way of life, and with this new out look on life there is a chance to do things different not just my academic education by my life experiences and help less fortunate individual still caught in the grip of oppression. I believe that every moment of everyday holds limitless possibility for change.
Everyone has privilege in one way or another. People feel that privilege is give to one race more, instead of every race. The race that it’s getting more privilege is the White race and with that comes White privilege. White means the people who have a light skin color also known as Caucasian or European and privilege means an advantage over others. An example of privilege is getting away with something that someone may not get away with. So White privilege is defined as “an invisible package of unearned assets that [someone that is White] can count on cashing in each day, but about which [they were] ‘meant’ to remain oblivious” (McIntosh 1990: 1). McIntosh is saying in that quote is that Whites do not recognize that they have this privilege
Andrea Smith’s “Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy” introduces an alternative framework for the organization of women and people of color (Smith 67). Such framework is non-singular, contrasting the previous which have proven to be limiting to these groups (Smith 67). Through the discussion of the three pillars which are separate, but interrelated and heteropatriarchy within society Smith provides a helpful starting point for organizers to break from systems of oppression and ultimately deconstruct White supremacy (Smith 73).
The way I have come to understand what the Matrix of Privilege and Oppression means, is that everyone everywhere feels both privilege and oppression at the same time, and how much they feel of it depends on where they are on the scale of oppression and what position in society that they are in. This could mean that a Black man whom is judged by his skin color every day and it heavily oppressed in many ways, ends up getting into a college over a white man because of the school wanting to be a more diverse campus. The white man does not get judged by his skin color on a regular basis, but it did not work out well for him while applying to schools.
People are not one dimensional. Everyone has multiple identities that when combined, form who we are. The way these identities intersect shape our realities, impact how we experience life, and influence the way we are treated by others within society. The Intersecting Axes of Privilege, Domination, and Oppression diagram addresses multiple identities such as gender, sex, race, age, class, sexual orientation, etc. The identities examined in the diagram visualize that people are more likely to have privilege or face oppression depending on their classification within a specific identity. Due to intersectionality, many experience both privilege and oppression simultaneously. The four oppressive systems that have impacted my life in various ways are race, sex, heritage, and language bias.
As a member of the dominant race in America, I know that I possess certain unearned privileges that allow me to be more successful overall. I was raised with the mindset that racism doesn't affect me because I am white. The U.S. education system taught me about my racial and ethnic history, but it is likely that my classmates of different races could not say the same. I learned about racism in school but not to view whites as privileged or degrading towards subordinate groups. My group was never seen at fault for oppression or took any responsibility for it. Myself, nor my peers, were ever seen or viewed as unfairly advantaged or privileged. I grew up under the impression that any person could achieve what they wanted if they simply worked hard
Stereotypes are created in today’s society for people who are deemed as different, not dominant, or unprivileged. Those who do not fall into a stereotype are often seen as privileged. One of the largest, and longest lived stereotype is race, specifically those who are African American. It is seen as a privilege to be viewed and treated as a white person, while those who fall into any other race are viewed and treated as being different. Recently, I have become very aware of difficulties facing the minorities. Before I witnessed an incident, I had been blind to the fact that there are privileges and so many stereotypes in today’s society. This blindness that I was experiencing, however, “is an aspect of privilege itself, … ‘the luxury of obliviousness’”
First, I remember my first experience with oppression. One day my mom and I went to Barnes & Noble so that I could get a book that I had been asking her to buy. While I was looking for the book, I noticed that one of the employees was following me, so I told my mom about it. When my mom confronted the employee she said that she wanted to make sure that I wasn’t stealing anything. Consequently, I started worrying that people wouldn’t treat me fairly because of the color of my skin. Second, as a child, I was marginalized every day. One example was when my 5th grade teacher took us outside to have a foot race and she picked two captains to pick the people they wanted on their team. I was overweight and I couldn’t run fast so my classmates never picked me. I was excluded because I wasn’t small in size and I cried each day and would only eat one meal and drink water to lose weight. Third, I was alienated because I was bullied in the 6th grade. Kids would tease me because of the way my skin looked due to eczema and wouldn’t sit with me during lunch time. Kids would look at me in disgust if I tried to talk to them. I dreaded going to school just to be teased and feel lonely each day. Fourth, I had one experience where I had a position of power. My teacher had to leave the classroom to discuss something with a parent and she put me in charge. She told me to write down the name of any student
This experience helped me to recognize the internal struggle that a substance abuser faces on a continuous basis. In addition, I know that an individual can have a difficult time changing their behavior even when they have a strong desire to change; the smallest thing can cause a person to relapse.
Many authors have examined the nature of discrimination and ties between oppression and discrimination, I plan to utilise Neil Thompson’s PCS model, this model is frequently used through social work and services. Thompson looks at discrimination as originating from the interplay of actions and values at the personal level of our feelings and thoughts of our own, which are largely inclined
But the main reason I got sober was that my life became unmanageable. The first thing that made me notice I was out of control was getting kicked out of high school two weeks before graduation.
One must consider the nature of oppression and how it is present within social work. The nature of oppression infiltrates all aspects of life. Social work theorist, defines oppression as “relations that divide people into dominant or superior groups and subordinate or inferior ones. These relations of domination consist of the systematic devaluing of the attributes and contributions of those deemed inferior, and their exclusion from the social resources available to those in the dominant group”. When humans experience a perceived threat to their personal identities and lack the ability to maintain and affirm a unique identity, they exclude others by contrasting themselves against a constructed, and inferior, identity of the other. To better
Oppression is this and so much more than what Ben Harper wrote in his song. Oppression is an unjust or cruel exercise or action of power. Everyone experiences oppression at least once in his or her lives. We have only recently begun to fight the effects of oppression, to gain freedom in our world. Oppression divides us to keep us from maintaining our freedom, what little of it we have. Oppression is completely based on hatred and preys on you when you sleep, or when you are at your lowest point. It kicks you when you are down, and pushes you further down the rabbit’s hole. It forces you to fight when you are the weakest and will take your very last breath. It takes one problem and snowballs until you can not take it anymore. We can learn to fight oppression, if we only make ourselves aware.
...e in charge of. My journey has been from allopathic to holistic and currently in a corroboration of allopathic therapies from my own General Practitioner and a number of holistic ones that I have through my own research came to use. For me it seems that I have thrown out many greater evils of drug use and drinking to these lesser evils. I see this now as a process that if I were not meant to experience I would not be. Becoming dependent upon anything I think is in no way good no matter if that thing were called religion, addiction, hobby or love. I believe that the seeking of balance is a must. And one cannot forever deny who he is. As Shakespeare said "To think own self be true". A lesson I am currently trying to employ and so unfortunate it is that "Once the mind has been stretched from a new idea it can never again return to its original state" ~ Einstein.
The book states “ As we experience living clean with its ups and downs, miracles and struggles, dead ends and open doors, we see the world more clearly and better understanding of our place in it”. It is important to remember that it is not where we have been that counts, but where we are going. We learn from out experience and we should use it to help others. The wisdom grows as we learn to see ourselves; without judging to conclusions. During the assignment I gained faith in myself to conquer over any obstacle. Growing up around drugs and alcohol was not important to me because my family never allowed children around while adults participated in their actions. Stability is important for us to thrive, but there is a difference between being stable and being stuck. Once our addictions takes over our time, mind, and value, we lose ourself. This assignment was needed because I picked up signs that helped distinguish serenity. I learned not to judge others, be ungrateful, and agitated with people with personal issues. Obstacles gave me a chance to challenge myself during the assignment. When we set goals for ourselves, we move toward them a day at a time, knowing that when we’re doing the rights things, the right things tend to
Most of the thousands and thousands of substance abusers in early recovery, that I have crossed paths with over the past four decades, have had a great deal of trouble understanding who they are early on in their sobriety. One common factor that all substance abusers share in early