User:Meg03

Matrix of Domination

The Matrix of Domination is a sociological theory that explains that issues of oppression that deal with race, class, and gender, though recognized as different social classifications, are all interconnected. Other forms of classification, such as sexual orientation, religion, or age, apply to this theory as well. Patricia Hill Collins is credited with introducing the theory in her work entitled Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. [edit] Theory applied Though Collins' main focus of the theory of the matrix of domination was applied to African-American women, there are many other examples that can be used to illustrate the theory. One prominent example is using the theory to explain the success of Colin Powell, the only African-American to have ever achieved the rank of United States Secretary of State, and consequently the highest ranking African-American government official in American history. Many argue that his success is proof that discrimination based on race has been, or is close to being, eradicated in the United States. But proponents of the theory of the matrix of domination would argue that this overlooks issues of social class, gender, and age, Powell being an upper class, middle-age/elderly male. (What was on Wikipedia previously before I edited)

Different Dimensions of Matrix of Domination

Race, class, and gender constitute axes of oppression that characterize Black women's experiences within a more generalized matrix of domination. Other groups may encounter different dimensions of the matrix, such as sexual orientation, religion, and age, but the overarching relationship is one of domination and the types of activism it generates. (Collins, 1990)

Multiple Levels of Domination

People experience and resist oppression on three levels: the level of personal biography; the group or community level of the cultural context created by race, class, and gender; and the systemic level of social institutions. Black feminist thought emphasizes all three levels as sites of domination and as potential sites of resistance. (Collins, 1990)

Matrix of Domination Applied in Residential Segregation

Collins' matrix of domination is used to distinguish the main dominance structures: male dominance, and situation as a minority and Islam. Two activities that contribute to Moroccan women's integration in society are studied: ethno-religious associations and Dutch language courses. Participation is most advanced in the ethnic neighborhoods, while living in a small ethnic community or living isolated in the suburbs proves less conducive to integration. Most surprising is that women living in the suburbs are affected by the same restrictions and dominance structures as women in ethnic neighborhoods.

Black Feminist Thought

Black feminist thought demonstrates Black women's emerging power as agents of knowledge. By portraying African-American women as self-defined, self-reliant individuals confronting race, gender, and class oppression, Afrocentric feminist thought speaks to the importance that oppression, Afrocentric feminist thought speaks to the importance that knowledge plays in empowering oppressed people. One distinguishing feature of Black feminist thought is its insistence that both the changed consciousness of individuals and the social transformation of political and economic institutions constitute essential ingredients for social change. New knowledge is important for both dimensions to change. (Collins, 1990)

Oppressed Family Pedagogy (OFP)

Oppression is perpetuated, exposed, and resisted "on three levels: personal biography, group or community level of the cultural context created by race, class, and gender; and the systemic level of social institutions" (Collins, 1990). OFP involves the intergenerational art of critical and reciprocal teaching and learning that is engaged at home by families battling oppression. Oppressed groups live at the crossroads of domination, accommodation, and resistance. They tend to represent numerical or political minorities that are often perceived to be a threat by a dominant group who sees them as potentially encroaching upon their values, beliefs, and/or resources perceived as precious and/or limited. Oppressed groups must learn when and how to resist (Scott, 1990), and they must prepare to live with consistently negative consequences in the matrix. As Hill-Collins (1990) further explains, the matrix presents "few pure victims or oppressors . . ." because an "individual derives varying amounts of penalty and privilege from the multiple systems of oppression in which everyone lives" (p. 230). Hughes (2006) found that narratives of oppressed families are educative and indeed, pedagogical (Hughes, 2005b) in ways that expose and resist the matrix of domination at home-in ways that inspire hope for their struggle. OFP tends to exhibit at least three hopeful possibilities adapted from the work of Clark (2002, pp. 91, 94, and 95):

'''Reactions to and Uses of the Matrix of Domination '''

The idea of a matrix is that several fundamental systems work with and through each other. People experience race, class, gender, and sexuality differently depending upon their social location in the structures of race, class, gender, and sexuality." (Zinn 1996) Multiracial feminism explores the interplay of social structure and women's agency. Within the constraints of race, class, and gender oppression, women create viable lives for themselves, their families, and their communities. (Zinn 1996)

Bell Hooks labels this matrix a "politic of domination" and describes how it operates along interlocking axes of race, class, and gender oppression. This politic of domination refers to the ideological ground that they share, which is a belief in domination, and a belief in the notions of superior and inferior, which are components of all of those systems.. (Collins, 1990)

Johnella Butler claims that new methodologies growing from this new paradigm would be "non-hierarchical" and would "refuse primacy to either race, class, gender, or ethnicity, demanding instead a recognition of their matrix-like interaction." Race, class, and gender may not be the most fundamental or important systems of oppression, but they have most profoundly affected African-American women. One significant dimension of Black feminist thought is its potential to reveal insights about the social relations of domination organized along other axes such as religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and age. Investigating Black women's particular experiences thus promises to reveal much about the more universal process of domination. (Collins, 1990)

References:

1.	Collins, Patricia, Black Feminist Thought, Unwin, Hyman (1990).

2.	Hooks, Bell, "Feminism: A Transformational Politic," Chap. 4 (pp. 19-27) of Bell Hooks, Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black. Boston: South End Press, 1989.

3.	Zinn, Maxine Baca and Bonnie Thornton Dill, "Theorizing Difference from                  Multiracial Feminism," Feminist Studies, summer 1996, pp. 321-23. As downloaded from WebPALS.

4.	Sherick, Hughes, “Theorizing Oppressed Family Pedagogy: Critical Lessons from a Rural Black Family in the Post-Brown South” (Summer 2005)

5.	Peleman, Katleen, “The Impact of Residential Segregation on Participation in Associations: The Case of Moroccan Women in Belgium” (2001)

External Links:

1.http://coss.stcloudstate.edu/psamuel/Matrix.htm

2.http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3971/is_200507/ai_n16687004/pg_2