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Internalized Oppression and Its Varied Moral Harms: Self‐Perceptions of Reduced Agency and Criminality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Nabina Liebow
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Abstract

The dominant view in the philosophical literature contends that internalized oppression, especially that experienced in virtue of one's womanhood, reduces one's sense of agency. Here, I extend these arguments and suggest a more nuanced account. In particular, I argue that internalized oppression can cause a person to conceive of herself as a deviant agent as well as a reduced one. This self‐conception is also damaging to one's moral identity and creates challenges that are not captured by merely analyzing a reduced sense of agency. To help illustrate this claim, I consider experiences of people of color who internalize stereotypes regarding criminality and moral deviance. With these examples in mind, I show that internalized prejudices regarding criminality can cause people of color (men and women) to view themselves as outlaws in the moral community, that is, as wrongdoers. This conclusion helps give voice to some of the challenges that women of color who experience multiple sorts of internalized prejudices often face. To conclude, I discuss one strategy for empowerment that women of color have used when confronted with multiple forms of internalized oppression.

Type
Articles
Information
Hypatia , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , Fall 2016 , pp. 713 - 729
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 by Hypatia, Inc.

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