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Cultural Imperialism In Iris Young's Five Faces Of Oppression

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“Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth, for being correct, for being you. Never apologize for being correct, or for being years ahead of your time. If you are right and you know it, speak your mind. Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth.” – Mahatma Gandhi. In this quote, Gandhi implies that there are a lot of people who want to put pressure on the ones who act in the way they really are and try to make them a part of the mainstream. For example, under tight and strict circumstances the ruling groups force others to become tyrants like themselves and not to act in the way they actually are. One of the most powerful types of such severe conditions is imperialism, which is …show more content…

Cultural imperialism in the borders of one country involves disseminating the values of the authority and forcing others to leave their personal identities, cultural values to obey the mainstream ideas. As Iris Young (2004) mentions in his article “Five Faces of Oppression”, the individuals who are persecuted by social colonialism are both evaluated by stereotypes and made to feel imperceptible. The stereotypes characterize what they can and can 't be. In the meantime, these stereotypes turn individuals into a mass of others who lack separate personalities (p.4). A stereotype is a general view that can be received about particular sorts of people or certain methods for doing things. Through stereotypes, people make general judgments about others without knowing them. The most common stereotypes are racial, sexual, and gender remarks. For example, in many cultures men are considered to be stronger, smarter and more successful than women. Also, people can be stereotyped just because of their tattoos, hair color, piercings, etc. For instance, in some societies there is a stereotype that goths always dress in black, are depressed and hated by everyone. It’s not simple for everyone to cope with stereotypes because they humiliate and generalize, confining you to a mold without giving you a chance to prove otherwise. Therefore, most people find it hard to fight against stereotypes of the society and change the way they actually are, wear a mask to avoid the adverse reaction of the

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