The universal theorey

Consider all the isms: ageism, sexism, racism, and the like. In class, we talked about several theories on how to examine al of these. We talked about one theory which essentially stacks these attributes to determine an individual's level of oppression: woman + black + lesbian = oppression X three. We talked about a theorey that considers each inidivudual, how all their potentially oppressive attributes feed into one another to cohesively describe their experience of oppression. But is there a universal theory of everything, a holy grail among social scientists as it is among physicists? Is it possible to remove the idea from the trait, to study oppression without considering specifically what oppresses? Can we, as Socrates sought to, find the "essence", that universal by which all oppression might be measured, qualified and understood?

I think in order to find the broad essence, we must look to the narrow. It seems a commonality among all theories that it behooves the examiner to group the experience of oppression by the trait which summons it. Whether we consider how sexuality, color and sex stack together, or whether we consider how there three traits work on the individual level,we are still examining experience based on trait. I think these traits are too broad. Rather than consider an individual based on what groups they might be appropriate fo (lesbians, women, blacks, etc), why not think of them as one group on their own? We consider this individual as a member of these three minority groups, but instead think of her as a member of only one minority group- that of the black female homosexual Suddenly, we are presented with innumerable minority groups, where once there were only a few. We could look equally at the male hispanic high-income minority group, or the ftm transgendered asian babyboomer minority group. We combine them like ingredients on a salad bar,and no two are alike. Like a salad, we cannot realistically assemble them and devour them piece by piece; rather, we must taste all the ingredients together as one unique flavor.

Now that we have broken our groups down to the smallest possible classifications, let us broaden the considerations again. With so many variables and so many experiences, what broad commonalities might we expect to find? We will find very few specific commonalities between the wealthy hispanic male and the 60+ asian ftm transgender, but obviously we still consider them both oppressed. We might hear word like "don't fit in" or " try harder" or "stares," simple concepts applied to what has always been a complex theoretical framework. When we ask onlookers to record their feelings about these people, commonalities might include "wierd," "wrong" or "uncomfortable", combined of course with many colorful ideas that otherwise don't match one another. We will find so many differences in response, from both subject and onlooker, but very few commonalities.

It is in these commonalities that I think we would find our universal theory. These simple terms suggest a commonality of experience that can draw an essential of oppression, an essential that is the only relevent consideration in the search for a cure. For so many decades we have eplored oppression in all its specifics, considered how minutae have defined the experiences of individuals, and all this time I think we may have been travelling the harder and less rewarding path. All of society, both oppressed and oppressor, has occupied itself with figuring out the differences, and frankly the reward has been perpetuating them. Spiecifcs have generated this oppressiont hat we seek to understand, and it is only in generalizations that we will succeed in dissolving it.

Sometimes, in cherished rarities, I stumble upon something in my writing which I find truly intriguing. This, I think, is one of them. I have no doubt that no one in our class will even trouble themselves to read this lengthy tome; indeed only one person thus far has read any of my posts, and even that was at my urging. Nonetheless, I am glad to be writing them. In this case, particularly, what began as a weekendmusing, partly to fulfill a class requirement, has turned into something that I would love to write a masters thesis on one day. If nothing else comes of this, I hope that, at least, does.

josh