In these two passages, Freire explores the idea of what I’m calling “oppression acceptance and assimilation,” which combines two different phases of the oppressed’s experience with their oppressors.
At the beginning of the passage, Freire claims, “But almost always, during the initial stage of the struggle, the oppressed, instead of striving for liberation, tend themselves to be come oppressors, or ‘sub-oppressors.'” (45) In this, he is referring to the “promotional” phase of oppression, in which someone in the oppressed group may be promoted to a higher position, giving them a level of power over their previous class, but not enough power to oppress the oppressor. However, Freire now categorizes the person as an oppressor when he says, “The very structure of their thought has been conditioned by the contradictions of the concrete, existential situation by which they were shaped. Their ideal is to be men; but for them, to be men is to be oppressors.” (45) This passage proves that Freire believes becoming an oppressor may be inevitable to the oppressed class.
An example of this phenomenon is seen in victims of sexual assault. According to invisiblechildren.org, “about 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children,” which perpetuates the cycle of abuse and proves Freire’s theory further.
The idea Freire presents is that oppressed people may not struggle against their oppression because that is the life they know and have come to survive in, whether it’s deemed acceptable by society or not. This is seen even further in the second passage and is most obvious in the quote, “their [the oppressed’s] perception of themselves as oppressed is impaired by their submersion in the reality of oppression.” (45) While those outside this reality may be capable of seeing another, “better” way of life, those being oppressed aren’t necessarily aware they’re being oppressed and, for lack of a better term, accept the oppression.
“It is a rare peasant who, once “promoted” to overseer, does not become more of a tyrant towards his former comrades than the owner him- self,” (46) says Freire, and fraternity hazing is the prime example of this issue. As a college student, without scientific backing, I know that when fraternity pledges experience hazing, they:
- Won’t report it.
- Will continue membership in the fraternity.
- Will then participate in hazing new members as they become upperclassmen.
With scientific backing:
- 5% of all college students admit to being hazed
- 40% admit to knowing about hazing activities
- and 90% of the general public surveyed agreed that newcomers may be afraid to disagree
according to insidehazing.com.
The concept of oppression acceptance and assimilation, in summary, is best expressed in the final sentence of the passage, when Freire says, “during the initial stage of their [the oppressed’s] struggle the oppressed find in the oppressor their model of “manhood,” (46) and that is how the cycle of oppression continues. With this mindset, oppression is power, and power is manhood, and all humans strive for humanity, so oppressed people may become oppressors to achieve that.
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