Posted: November 19th, 2022
Structural Oppression
Answer each of the questions below in 100-150 words for each question STRICTLY using the suggested. OUTSIDE SOURCES PROHIBITED!!! Please place the answer under each question
SOURCES
Selections from Adams, et al. (2018). Readings for diversity and social justice (4th Ed.).
• DeJohn & Love, Introduction to Section 7
• Reading 116: Bell, Understanding adultism: A key to developing positive youth-adult relationships
• Reading 117: Giroux, Terrorizing school children in the American police state
• Reading 118: Durkin, Police make life hell for youth of color
• Reading Lesko, N. (1996). Denaturalizing adolescence: The politics of contemporary representations. Youth & Society, 28(2), 1239-161. You can access this through the library.
1. The article by Nancy Lesko (“Denaturalizing adolescence”) is dense, I know. But it also has some really important information in it. Based on the historical analysis she presents, articulate how you see the construction of adolescence reflecting Bell’s idea that oppression is both durable/mutable and internalized.
2. Ageism is a form of oppression that targets both young people and elders. All we have to do in order to start in a subordinated position, move to a dominant one, and then move back to a subordinated one is: 1) be born, and 2) not die until we’re old. This is the only positionality we’ll discuss all term in which we all move from subordinate to dominant and back again. Fascinating.
Given that, and given that we know our own experiences of age-based subordination, why do you think we continue to enact ageism when we’re in the dominant position? Provide references back to our reading to support your response.
3. Benevolent oppression is alive and well in performances of ageism. Identify one example of this, either from your life or the text, and anchor that to one of Bell’s, Young’s, or Smith’s characteristics to make the argument that it’s an example of systemic or structural oppression.