Oppression mentality
Oppression mentality refers to a psychological framework developed as a response to historical and ongoing experiences of discrimination and marginalization. It often emerges within communities that have faced systemic injustices, such as ethnic or religious groups with a long history of persecution. For example, Jews have experienced significant oppression throughout history, including episodes of anti-Semitism in Christian and Islamic contexts, leading to a heightened sense of vulnerability among some members of the community.
This mentality can manifest as a belief that oppression is an inevitable part of life, influencing how individuals perceive their safety and identity in society. In contemporary settings, such as the United States, while many Jewish individuals have made substantial advancements and face less overt persecution, some still maintain a cautious outlook shaped by historical traumas, including the Holocaust. The dichotomy within Jewish communities—in which some members emphasize progress while others highlight ongoing threats—illustrates the complexities of oppression mentality.
Research tools, such as the Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale (TSDS), are utilized to gauge the psychological impacts of this mentality across various marginalized groups. Overall, oppression mentality serves as a lens through which individuals understand their experiences and navigate their identities amidst a backdrop of societal challenges.
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Oppression mentality
The Jewish ethnicity is one of the oldest ethnic groups in the world, tracing their history back about eighteen centuries before the beginning of the Christian era. Jewish identity involves national, religious, and genetic aspects. A long and diverse history of anti-Semitism has accompanied Jewish history. As a people whose small nation was conquered by larger nations and who, for much of their history, were forced to live in other countries far from their Middle Eastern homeland, Jews have frequently suffered from religious or genetic (“racial”) oppression. Jews have struggled to maintain their distinctive identity within larger societies that were different both culturally and religiously. Often, the dominant group reacted with hostility and even persecution.
In Christian countries especially, Jews have been oppressed not only because of their distinctiveness but also because of the Christian teaching that held Jews responsible for the death of Jesus and the Christian belief that Christianity is the only true religion. Major examples of oppression of Jews in Christian countries include the Crusades in the early Middle Ages, the Spanish Inquisition in the 1400s, the pogroms in Eastern Europe in the few centuries leading up to the twentieth century, and the Holocaust in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, in which six million Jews (almost 40 percent of the world’s Jewish population at the time) were killed. Islamic countries also have oppressed Jews, although usually not nearly as severely as Christian countries. Some communist countries have oppressed Jews because of the Jewish refusal to give up their religious identity. Opposition to contemporary Israel by Arab countries basically has been based on disputes over land, but frequently, anti-Semitic stereotypes have been used against Israel. This history of oppression has led to a belief by some Jews that their existence is precarious, and that oppression is eventually to be expected everywhere.
In the United States, Jews frequently suffered from restrictive quotas in college admissions and discrimination in housing, jobs, and other areas until shortly after World War II, when conditions slowly began to improve. Shock at the magnitude of the Holocaust somewhat modified negative attitudes toward Jews. Moreover, the increasing ethnic diversity of the United States has made Jews stand out less as a minority group. U.S. Jews thus face a dilemma. They live in a society where anti-Semitism is widespread but persecution is not.
Nevertheless, the Holocaust, the treatment of Jews in the former Soviet Union, the rise of neo-Nazism in Germany, and other events point out the continuing threat to Jews. Regardless of the reasons for the conflicts between Jews and Arabs, one major reason for American Jews’ strong support for Israel is the belief that there must be one safe place in case there is renewed major oppression in the future.
Some American Jews, especially those who are acculturated or assimilated, emphasize the advances Jews have made and deny any possibility of oppression. Other Jewish Americans emphasize the history of oppression, current world events, and fear of history repeating itself. They are labeled paranoid by the acculturated, while they label the acculturated as deniers or naïve. Most American Jews fall between these two extremes.
The Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale (TSDS) can be used to research the impact of oppression on the human mind. The TSDS is a self-report instrument intended to measure the anxiety caused by discriminatory experiences and oppression related to homophobia, sexism, income inequality, racism, and other common forms of marginalization. Notably, most research concerning the impact of oppression mentality has focused on ethnicity, but this phenomenon can occur across all groups.
Bibliography
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Kerenji, Emil. Jewish Responses to Persecution. Rowman, 2015.
Marcus, Kenneth L. Jewish Identity and Civil Rights in America. Cambridge UP, 2011, pp. 49-64.
Medoff, Rafael. Jewish Americans. Salem, 2011.
"Social Identities and Systems of Oppression." Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History & Culture, nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics/social-identities-and-systems-oppression. Accessed 2 Nov. 2024.
Williams, Monnica, et al. “Understanding the Psychological Impact of Oppression Using the Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale.” Chronic Stress, vol. 7, 2023, doi.org/10.1177/24705470221149511. Accessed 2 Nov. 2024.
Yancey, George A. Neither New nor Gentile: Exploring Issues of Racial Diversity on Protestant College Campuses. Oxford UP, 2010.