Unmasking imposter syndrome: individual responsibility or repercussions of systemic oppression?

In contemporary and popular discourse, imposter syndrome is frequently outlined as an individual problem that can be overcome. Rather than the locus of responsibility being placed on the individual, we posit that neoliberal academic institutions contribute to imposter syndrome by (de)legitimising certain forms of knowledge.

The Relationship Between Intersectional Oppression and Affirmation and Latino Sexual Minority Men's Mental Health

Purpose: Latino sexual minority men (LSMM) may experience oppression based on their ethnicity, sexual orientation, and migratory status, yet scientific literature is only beginning to explore the intersection of these experiences. This study examined mental health (MH) in relation to LSMM's experiences of intersectional oppression and affirmation. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of baseline data from a cohort study examining LSMM's (n = 290) health care engagement in Miami, FL, from February to September 2020. Latent class analysis (LCA) identified classes based on self-reported multiple identity discrimination (e.g., race, ethnicity, and skin color), sexual orientation stigma/affirmation, and migration-related stress. Logistic and linear regressions examined associations between class membership and anxious, depressive, post-traumatic stress, somatic symptoms, and overall MH burden. Results: The LCA revealed a three-class solution: (1) affirmed LSMM (73.8%), (2) LSMM with intersectional oppression (21.7%), and (3) LSMM with immigration stress (4.5%). The three classes varied in terms of multiple identity discrimination, sexual orientation stigma/affirmation, and migration-related stress. Compared with Class 1, Class 2 had greater conditional probabilities of reporting clinically significant depressive (p = 0.033) and post-traumatic stress symptoms (p = 0.031), and at least one MH concern (p = 0.018). Greater depressive symptoms (p = 0.007), post-traumatic stress symptoms (p = 0.049), somatic symptoms (p = 0.024), and clinically significant MH concerns (p = 0.018) were found among Class 2 than among Class 1. Conclusion: Findings identified three groups of LSMM based on their experiences of intersectional oppression and affirmation. Discrimination at the intersection of multiple identities, sexual orientation stigma/affirmation, and migration-related stress were associated with LSMM's MH outcomes, particularly among immigrants.

Trauma Aware and Anti-Oppressive Arts-Health and Community Arts Practice: Guiding Principles for Facilitating Healing, Health and Wellbeing

There is a growing call for arts-health and community arts professionals to work in 'trauma informed ways' to prevent re-traumatisation and promote healing. This paper reports on a scoping review of existing literature that deal with trauma aware and informed practice and its applications in arts-health and community arts. Trauma informed practice does not seek to target or treat trauma but, rather, seeks to provide a safer and more informed space for people who experience post-traumatic stress conditions and symptoms to engage in facilitated arts activities. We particularly examine the extent to which existing literature acknowledges the presence of oppression-related collective trauma - such as racial trauma - and offers appropriate creative, anti-oppressive and trauma aware practice approaches. A total of 19 articles were included following librarian input and team checking. Included articles were written in English, published in peer reviewed academic journals, included a creative arts component, and adopted an intentional trauma informed or aware approach to practice. An additional three sources were included as part of descriptive synthesis to foreground leading First Nations resources for practice. Although no specific guidelines for trauma aware practice in arts-health or community arts were found, findings are consolidated at the end of the paper to offer interim principles, values and activities for trauma aware and informed practice in arts-health and community arts. Findings can also inform general trauma related research and therapy by highlighting the growing role of arts and creativity in responding to diverse experiences of trauma and its effects.

Oppressed Groups Engender Implicit Positivity: Seven Demonstrations Using Novel and Familiar Targets

Across seven preregistered studies in online adult volunteer samples (N = 5,323), we measured implicit evaluations of social groups following exposure to historical narratives about their oppression. Although the valence of such information is highly negative and its interpretation was left up to participants, implicit evaluations of oppressed groups shifted toward positivity, including in designs involving fictitious, well-known, and even self-relevant targets. The sole deviation from this pattern was observed in an experiment using a vignette about slavery in the United States, in response to which neither White nor Black Americans exhibited any change in implicit race attitudes. In line with propositional perspectives, these findings suggest that implicit evaluations (including, notably, implicit evaluations of well-known and self-relevant social groups) tend to change toward positivity in response to extremely negative information involving past oppression. However, macro-level phenomena, such as public awareness of histories of oppression, can modulate such updating processes.

Inoperative Love and Social Well-Being in the Face of Oppression: A Psychoanalytic-Agambenian Developmental Perspective and Its Implications for Psychoanalytic Therapy

The author depicts, relying on several of Giorgio Agamben's philosophical concepts as well as a psychoanalytic developmental perspective, the origins and features of inoperative love and spaces, especially as they pertain to oppressive situations wherein social, political, and economic apparatuses undermine the psychosocial well-being of individuals, families, and communities. In addition, the author conceptualizes psychoanalytic therapy as an inoperative space wherein patients actualize their capacity for impotentiality and experience singularity and rapport.

Intertwined -isms: an exploration of relationships between ageism and sexism in workplace and non-work contexts

This study aimed to examine the association of workplace-based ageism with (a) ageism in non-work contexts and (b) workplace-based sexism. Data came from an online survey of workers in South Korea, with a sample stratified by gender and age group (N = 600; mean age = 43.6  years, range 20-74). Workplace-based ageism was measured using the Workplace Intergenerational Climate Scale (WICS). Other measures included the Fraboni Ageism Scale (FAS) and the Workplace Sexism Culture Scale (WSCS). A series of logistic regression models for endorsing the most workplace ageism (i.e., scoring in WICS bottom quartile) were estimated. Results showed that with each unit increase in FAS scores, the probability of belonging to the WICS bottom quartile increased by 7% while controlling for sociodemographic characteristics [odds ratio (OR) = 1.07, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.04-1.10, p < 0.01]. Likewise, when WSCS scores increased by one unit, the probability of belonging to the WICS bottom quartile increased by 8% while controlling for sociodemographic characteristics (OR = 1.08, 95% CI = 1.04-1.12, p < 0.01). Findings suggest that ageism and sexism may be intertwined across workplace and non-work contexts.

Ultrasound-guided proximal external aortic compression in a vascular trauma patient

OBJECTIVES

Emergency treatment of patients with severe subphrenic vascular trauma often adopts resuscitative thoracotomy or endovascular balloon. This case report proposes a non-invasive method to treat patients with vascular trauma, mainly through ultrasound-guided positioning of the proximal aorta and applying pressure to occlude the aorta and limit the distal blood flow, using bedside ultrasound to achieve accurate compression, continuous monitoring of its efficacy, and early detection of the recovery of autonomic circulation in patients with cardiac arrest.

METHODS

We introduced a case of left iliac artery injury caused by a knife wound and subsequent cardiac arrest.Results We tried to externally compress the proximal aorta under bedside US guidance to achieve and maintain the recovery of the autonomic circulation. This allowed the patient to be transferred from the emergency department to the operating room.

CONCLUSION

This case demonstrated that ultrasound-guided proximal external aortic compression can be used as a bridge for further treatment of patients with vascular trauma, such as resuscitative thoracotomy or endoaortic balloon or covered stent occlusion.

Developing the "Oppression-to-Incarceration Cycle" of Black American and First Nations Australian Trans Women: Applying the Intersectionality Research for Transgender Health Justice Framework

Trans women are disproportionately incarcerated in the United States and Australia relative to the general population. Stark racial and ethnic disparities in incarceration rates mean that Black American and First Nations Australian trans women are overrepresented in incarceration relative to White and non-Indigenous cisgender and trans people. Informed by the Intersectionality Research for Transgender Health Justice (IRTHJ) framework, the current study drew upon lived experiences of Black American and First Nations Australian trans women to develop a conceptual model demonstrating how interlocking forces of oppression inform, maintain, and exacerbate pathways to incarceration and postrelease experiences. Using a flexible, iterative, and reflexive thematic analytic approach, we analyzed qualitative data from 12 semistructured interviews with formerly incarcerated trans women who had been incarcerated in sex-segregated male facilities. Three primary domains-pathways to incarceration, experiences during incarceration, and postrelease experiences-were used to develop the "oppression-to-incarceration cycle." This study represents a novel application of the IRTHJ framework that seeks to name intersecting power relations, disrupt the status quo, and center embodied knowledge in the lived realities of formerly incarcerated Black American and First Nations Australian trans women.

Conceptualizing inequities and oppression in oral health research

Major sociohistorical processes have profound effects on oral health, with impacts experienced through structural oppression manifested in policies and practices across the lifespan. Structural oppression drives oral health inequities and impacts population-level oral health. In this global perspective paper, we challenge old assumptions about oral health inequities, address misleading conceptualizations in their description and operation and reframe oral health through the lens of intersecting systems of oppression. Furthermore, we emphasize the need for oral health researchers to explore causal pathways through which oppression harms oral health and engage in social science concepts to understand the root causes of oral health inequities fully. Finally, we call on policymakers, dental scholars and decision makers to consider health equity in all policies and to take a systems-oriented approach to effectively address oral health inequities.

Understanding the Psychological Impact of Oppression Using the Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale

Oppression refers to systemic discrimination where the injustice targets or disproportionately impacts specific groups of people. The Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale (TSDS) is a self-report measure designed to assess the traumatizing impact of discrimination broadly by measuring anxiety-related symptoms of trauma due to discriminatory experiences. This may include symptoms arising from racism, homophobia, sexism, poverty, or other forms of marginalization. Almost all studies of the TSDS have examined its use in marginalized ethnoracial groups, primarily African Americans. This paper will extend prior work to help us better understand racial trauma across groups by reporting and comparing TSDS mean scores across ethnoracial identities in a diverse national sample (n  =  923). It also explores trauma with other marginalized identities and demographic dimensions, including gender, sexual minority/LGBQ status, education, and income. The relationship of TSDS scores to clinical psychopathologies are examined, including stress, depression, anxiety, and PTSD. We also examine the unique risks associated with intersectionality, and how having multiple marginalized identities may increase traumatization. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.

Researching the health and social inequalities experienced by European Roma populations: Complicity, oppression and resistance

This paper draws on the experience of two Romani and three non-Romani scholars in knowledge production on the health and social inequalities experienced by European Roma populations. Together, we explore how we might better account for, and work against, the complex web of dynamic oppressions embedded within processes of academic knowledge production. Our aim is to encourage careful scrutiny through which sociologists of health and illness might better recognise our own complicity with oppression and identify concrete actions towards transforming our research practices. Drawing on a well-known domains of racism typology (Annual Review of Public Health, 40, 2019, 105), we use examples from our own work to illustrate three interconnected domains of oppression in which we have found ourselves entangled (structural, cultural and interpersonal). A new conceptual framework is proposed as an aid to understanding the spectrum of different "types" of complicity (voluntary-involuntary, conscious-unconscious) that one might reproduce across all three domains. We conclude by exploring how sociologists of health and illness might promote a more actively anti-racist research agenda, identifying and challenging subtle, hidden and embedded negative ideologies and practices as well as more obviously oppressive ones. We hope these reflections will help revitalise important conversations.

Covidisation of oppression: COVID-19 and human rights violations in Zimbabwe

Restrictive measures implemented in Zimbabwe since 30^th March 2020 were instigated by the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in China and its subsequent spread to other countries around the world. However, public concerns about preparedness, especially the government's response to the pandemic, were raised early when the coronavirus started to wreak havoc elsewhere around the world in late 2019. These concerns were particularly emphatic and palpable given that Zimbabwe has been having a health crisis for a long time well before the worldwide outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper is a critique of Zimbabwe's human rights record since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Madhukar Pai's idea of covidisation is used to conceptualise through description and explanation how the Zimbabwean government took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to further human rights abuses, hence the covidisation of oppression. I use a multipronged approach starting with a historical account detailing how the Zimbabwean government has been flagrantly violating the human rights of citizens. Documentary evidence is the main source of information for this paper coupled with the empirical observation of developments in the political arena and using critical discourse analysis (CDA) as the main analytical tool. The Zimbabwean government has failed to balance the imperatives of saving lives by building a robust health system in conjunction with the creation and implementation of a comprehensive COVID-19 strategy while addressing the livelihood needs of its people.

Instituting Racial Equity: The Allegheny County Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health Initiative

INTRODUCTION

In 2018, The Live Well Allegheny: Lifting Wellness for African Americans (LWA2) Initiative was developed to support six priority, Black communities in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania to address health equity in chronic disease. The LWA2 coalition members participated in ongoing anti-racism and racial equity sessions with a nationally recognized anti-racist facilitation team. The sessions included a 2-days experience in January 2020 along with follow up meetings throughout 2020.

METHODS

Surveys were administered to understand their perceptions related to anti-racism and oppression and subsequent actions as a result of the sessions. Additionally, we conducted nine in-depth interviews with organizational partners (January -May 2020) to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the coalition and inform future activities.

RESULTS

Ten participants completed the post session surveys. Seven out of 10 survey respondents felt they had a good understanding of how oppression (racism, sexism, capitalism) influenced their life and work. However, the majority indicated needing the tools to implement anti-racist strategies in their work. The in-depth interviews with organizational partners revealed that racial equity was of concern to all partners but there was variability in intentionality around racial equity as a core element of each organization's mission, goals and subsequent actions.

DISCUSSION

As a result of the interviews, coalition members developed a racial equity statement and theory of change for implementation in the coalition work and within individual organizations along with a plan for implementing an equity audit of the coalition. Coalitions of this kind should be intentional about implementing continuous strategies related to anti-racism for structural changes toward achieving racial equity in their overall work.

Everyday Acts of Resistance: Mexican, Undocumented Immigrant Children and Adolescents Navigating Oppression With Mentor Support

Study aims were to examine oppression in education among Mexican immigrant youth with undocumented status and how mentors and other adults helped them resist oppression. Qualitative, narrative one-on-one interviews were conducted with 17 Mexican immigrant young adults with undocumented or DACA status in the U.S. Participants provided retrospective accounts from childhood through older adolescence. Analyses revealed critical junctures in which participants experienced oppression: (1) developmental milestones and school events, (2) college application process, (3) unforeseen life events, and (4) incidents of racial discrimination. Mentors and other adults helped participants to resist oppression through advocacy, social capital efforts, role modeling, and emotional, instrumental, and financial support. This study fills gaps in the literature on mentoring and immigrant youth who are undocumented.

Every Day Matters: Using Daily Methods to Understand Oppression and BIPOC Youth Development in Context

There is an increasing use of daily methods (e.g., daily diaries, experience sampling method) by research investigating the roles of oppression, racism, and discrimination on Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) youth adjustment. This commentary discusses several promising directions in which daily methods can help (1) understand adolescents' oppression-related experiences in everyday life, (2) investigate the immediate and long-term implications of these experiences, and (3) explore the role of protective processes and broader contexts. Moving forward, daily methods can be more broadly integrated into other methodologies (e.g., longitudinal designs, qualitative/mixed methods), providing unique insights into how systems of oppression become relevant in BIPOC adolescents' everyday life and informing practices to improve their adjustment on a daily basis and over the long term.

Dismantling Systems and Improving Contexts to Support the Development of BIPOC Youth

The issue's collection of 17 papers apply a wide range of developmental, contextual, intersectional, and critical perspectives (and their combinations) to promote understanding on how oppressive systems intersect and overlap in detrimental ways for BIPOC youth development. Innovative conceptual models and a variety of methodological techniques advance our understanding of the lived experiences of BIPOC youth who interact daily in contexts such as neighborhoods and educational settings in which racism and anti-immigrant sentiment pervades. Together, the papers in this issue examine the systemic forces at the root of experiences of oppression and advance the field toward improving short and long-term developmental outcomes for BIPOC adolescents.

Binge Eating Disorder Is a Social Justice Issue: A Cross-Sectional Mixed-Methods Study of Binge Eating Disorder Experts' Opinions

BACKGROUND

Binge eating disorder is an autonomous DSM-V diagnosis characterized by discrete rapid consumption of objectively large amounts of food without compensation, associated with loss of control and distress. Environmental factors that contribute to binge eating disorder continue to evolve. This mixed-methods cross-sectional study assessed whether there is consensus among experts in the field about environmental factors that influence adult binge eating disorder pathology.

METHODS

Fourteen expert binge eating disorder researchers, clinicians, and healthcare administrators were identified internationally based on federal funding, PubMed-indexed publications, active practice in the field, leadership in relevant societies, and/or clinical and popular press distinction. Semi-structured interviews were recorded anonymously and analyzed by ≥2 investigators using reflexive thematic analysis and quantification.

RESULTS

Identified themes included: (1) systemic issues and systems of oppression (100%); (2) marginalized and under-represented populations (100%); (3) economic precarity and food/nutrition insecurity/scarcity (93%); (4) stigmatization and its psychological impacts (93%); (5) trauma and adversity (79%); (6) interpersonal factors (64%); (7) social messaging and social media (50%); (8) predatory food industry practices (29%); and (9) research/clinical gaps and directives (100%).

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, experts call for policy changes around systemic factors that abet binge eating and for greater public education about who can have binge eating disorder. There is also a call to take and account for the narratives and life experiences of individuals with binge eating disorder to better inform our current understanding of the diagnosis and the environmental factors that impact it.

Data justice and data solidarity

Datafication shapes and gradually transforms societies. Given this impact, issues of justice around data-driven practices have received more and more attention in recent years as shown, for example, by various reports and guidelines on artificial intelligence and data ethics. In this article, we elaborate on and defend two claims. First, these discourses on justice tend to center primarily around conceptions of fairness. We argue that justice in connection with datafication relates to, but ultimately encompasses more than, solely fairness. Second, although it is an important project to clarify what justice in connection with datafication encompasses, we argue that attention toward attitudes and practices of data solidarity have so far been largely overlooked. They are, however, indispensable as a catalytic element to advance toward data justice in practice.

New technologies such as big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are rapidly generating new opportunities and challenges for various social practices. At the same time, they raise important ethical questions. For example, for whom will these opportunities and advantages result in benefits, and who bears the burdens? A fundamental issue is which individuals and groups with their respective claims and particularities are involved and affected by the use of ever-increasing amounts of data and the inferences drawn from them. To navigate this terrain, reference is often made to the notion of justice. Such reference can be helpful to the extent that we are clear about what justice entails and what it takes to get there. In this article, we argue that justice requires us to make visible the claims of those left out, excluded, or disadvantaged in and around the use of data. To this end, we put forward the concept of data solidarity and examine its interplay with data justice.

Company-sponsored egg freezing: an offer you can't refuse?

The aim of this article is to argue that one of the central arguments against company-sponsored non-medical egg freezing, namely that this practice is contrary to the reproductive autonomy of women, can be difficult to sustain under certain conditions. More specifically, we argue that company-sponsored egg freezing is not necessarily in conflict with the most common requirements for autonomous choice. That is, there is no reason to assume that employees cannot be adequately informed beforehand about what is scientifically known about the practice, and/or that they lack the required capacity to understand and process this information. Although they may feel a certain pressure to comply with the wishes of their employer, this concern can plausibly be alleviated through privacy regulations. In any event, such pressure is arguably not stronger than or relevantly different from other types of pressure on the labour market that most people readily accept as being ethically acceptable. Finally, we argue that company-sponsored non-medical egg freezing may mitigate certain types of oppressive socialization, although it may well perpetuate others, and should in any case arguably be dealt with through guidelines and counselling, which would ensure that women make autonomous choices when companies offer egg freezing.

Oppression and resistance: An analysis of Muslims' experiences of structural violence

Discrimination and vilification of Muslims in the United States have historical and political roots. This study explores everyday incidents of marginalization and oppression through the framework of structural violence. Structural violence refers to the systemic inequalities embedded within societal structures that create and support these oppressive conditions. In this community-engaged qualitative study, 10 self-identified Muslims from the northeastern United States were interviewed to understand their lived experiences of structural violence. Using thematic analysis, seven themes were identified: Racialized and xenophobic Islamophobia; normalized violence against Muslims and fear of safety; exclusion, marginalization, and subjugation through policies; Muslims as spokespersons for Islam; Intersecting marginalized identities and oppression; challenges of navigating Muslim identities; resilience and resistance through faith, activism, and community. This study aims to understand and contextualize the experiences of Muslims within a systemic and geopolitical framework. Another critical objective is to promote a discourse to address how academics and clinicians reproduce and maintain structural violence and to instead engage in socially transformative approaches embedded in the principles of decolonizing and mutually-liberating cross-struggle solidarity. These must be cultivated through community-informed intersectional collaborative strategies for dismantling oppressive structures and promoting agency, resilience, activism, and resistance.

Psychological Violence Against Arab Women in the Context of Social Media: Web-Based Questionnaire Study

Background

Social media provides women with varying platforms to express themselves, show their talents, communicate and expand their social relationships, and break the shackles imposed by their societies. Theoretically, social media can play a significant role in developing women’s freedom and decreasing social pressures; nonetheless, women continue to face violence during the social media era mainly in the form of psychological violence.

Objective

This study aims to conduct an empirical in-depth analysis of how the digital space, particularly social media, provides men with new opportunities to surveil, restrict, harass, and intimidate feminists in Arab countries.

Methods

This study includes an empirical survey to investigate what Arab women think are the causes and types of violence wielded against them and their perspectives on the impact of that violence. This study used a web-based questionnaire administered through Google Forms (n=1312) with responses from Arab women aged 15 years and above from all Arab countries.

Results

We found that most Arab women feared posting an actual photograph of themselves on their social media accounts and only approximately one-third (490/1312, 37.3%) did so. Most women indicated that they encountered sexual harassment regardless of their age. Furthermore, most women were not aware of the legal aspects of this crime and even those who were aware indicated that they would not press charges for several reasons, including bringing dishonor upon their families, the time-consuming nature of litigation, and fear of revenge.

Conclusions

This study shows that young and less educated women are more vulnerable to abuse from either social media users or being condemned by their families. This has several effects, including lower self-esteem and hesitancy in seeking a job, feelings of mistrust and fear, cynicism, anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders. These issues hold women back from using social media in positive ways and some consider leaving social media.

'Satan is holding your tongue back': Stuttering as moral failure

Background

The last decade has seen researchers and speech–language pathologists employ and advocate for a disability studies approach in the study of the lived experiences of people who stutter and in the design of interventions and treatment approaches for such individuals. Joshua St. Pierre, one of the few theorists to explore stuttering as a disability, mentions as a key issue the liminal nature of people who stutter when describing their disabling experiences.

Objectives

This article aimed to build on the work of St. Pierre, exploring the liminal nature of people who stutter.

Method

Drawing on my personal experiences of stuttering as a coloured South African man, I illuminated the liminal nature of stuttering.

Results

This analytic autoethnography demonstrates how the interpretation of stuttering as the outcome of moral failure leads to the discrimination and oppression of people who stutter by able-bodied individuals as well as individuals who stutter.

Conclusion

As long as stuttering is interpreted as the outcome of moral failure, the stigma and oppression, as well as the disablism experience by people who stutter, will continue to be concealed and left unaddressed.

Preparing Social Workers to Confront Social Injustice and Oppression: Evaluating the Role of Social Work Education

Since the presidential election of 2016, bias-related incidents, hate-filled rhetoric, and extremist violence have been increasing in the United States. Because social workers are often working with individuals and communities affected by these incidents, practitioners may have increasing responsibility to confront social injustice and oppression. However, limited evidence on the preparedness of social workers to assume this responsibility, particularly among those who are still students, exists. To address this gap, this study used focus group and survey data from the Diversity and Oppression Scale to explore the preparedness of MSW students (N = 22) to confront oppression. Six themes were identified as integral to student experiences in their programs: (1) social worker responsibility to confront oppression, (2) use of dominant group discourse on oppression, (3) variation in faculty preparation and comfort, (4) a focus on knowledge of oppression versus skills and process, (5) role of personal responsibility and experience in student preparation, and (6) strategies to increase student preparedness to confront oppression. Factors identified to enhance students' level of preparedness include faculty opportunities for development, changes to the explicit and implicit curriculum, and creating a formalized way to integrate topics on oppression and diversity into all facets of the curriculum.

Black Rage: The Psychic Adaptation to the Trauma of Oppression

Integrating the story of a young Freud's racial trauma with a novel application of the concept of moral injury has led to a realization and conceptual formulation during the pandemic uprisings of the mental construct of Black Rage as an adaptation to oppression trauma. As formulated here, Black Rage exists in a specific dynamic equilibrium as a compromise formation that is a functional adaptation for oppressed people of color who suffer racial trauma and racial degradation, an adaptation that can be mobilized for the purpose of defense or psychic growth. Black Rage operates as a mental construct in a way analogous to the structural model [corrected], in which mental agencies carry psychic functions. The concept of Black Rage is crucial to constructing a theoretical framework for a psychology of oppression and transgenerational transmission of trauma. Additionally, in the psychoanalytic theory on oppression suggested here, a developmental line is formulated for the adaptive function of Black Rage in promoting resilience in the face of oppression trauma for marginalized people.

Transforming responses: Exploring the treatment of substance-using African American women

This article explores how intrapersonal and structural oppression may impact treatment and the recovery process of 23 self-identified African American women with histories of incarceration and substance use. Using a critical consciousness (CC) framework and content-based thematic analysis, researchers systematically coded and extracted themes and patterns from focus group data to evaluate how marginalizing processes-such as race-based discrimination-impact treatment, the therapeutic relationship, and service provision. Results indicate that participants' health and treatment were negatively impacted by oppressive factors, specifically the oppressive process of silencing. The authors discuss research and practice implications.

A Missing Ingredient in a Time of Fear: Carers are not the Bucket

We are all in this together. Perhaps for the first time in our history every human population is dealing with the same problem at the same time. It is appropriate to spend some time examining how humans function under stress and what helps alleviate the stress. Care, for others and from others, seems to be one of our deepest neurobiological responses to threat and overwhelm. Yet, care, as traditionally seen as the work of females of our species, has not been afforded the credit that it deserves. Conversely, care is seen as a secondary weakness. Examining attachment theory, the polyvagal theory, and mindfulness-based attachment research, we can learn that indeed we are creatures who thrive on being cared for and deteriorate when care is not provided or available. In this time of fear and concern, it is postulated that perhaps this is the time to examine long held belief that caring for other is not weakness and not exclusively the realm of the female, but an inborn response to external threat available to all.

Autism spectrum disorder and suitability for extradition: Love v the Government of the United States [2018] 1 WLR 2889; [2018] EWHC 172 (Admin) per Burnett LCJ and Ouseley J

Applications for extradition of persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have the potential to raise complex issues in relation to mental health experts' evaluation of the impact of removal of a person from their own country's sources of familial support to another country's custodial environment. These issues were traversed at length in relation to the risks posed by applications for extradition of the English computer hacker, Gary McKinnon, which resulted in executive intervention to enable him to remain in the United Kingdom and in important legislative amendments, by way of the institution of a 'forum bar'. In 2018 the Court of Appeal in Love v The Government of the United States [2018] 1 WLR 2889; [2018] EWHC 172 (Admin) delivered a ground-breaking judgment rejecting the extradition of another computer hacker, Lauri Love, who suffered from ASD and other comorbidities. The decision is an important precedent in its interpretation of the new forum bar provisions, the way in which forensic mental health evidence was adduced in the context of ASD symptomatology and evaluated by the court, and the finding that removal of Mr Love to the United States penal system would be unacceptably oppressive.

Long-Term Impact of War, Civil War, and Persecution in Civilian Populations-Conflict and Post-Traumatic Stress in African Communities

This chapter describes how chronic conflict, warfare, and persecution, as lived experiences, have created significant mental distress in communities on the African continent. There is a growing body of research that highlights increasing mental distress in Africa e.g., about sexuality, health, disease, modernity, climate, politics, culture, religion, ethnicities, race, economies etc. Many of these stresses and uncertainties are driven by political persecution, war, and conflict. This has shaped many African people's attitudes and government policies and an increasing scholarly interest in exploring these "uncertainties and mental distresses in Africa." The chapter will show how trauma, as seen in conflict/post-conflict settings in Africa, causes significant mental stress and associated social problems as well as medically-defined PTSD syndromes, anxiety, and depression which cause much morbidity and retard development in many African communities. Taking a classical look at post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, the chapter explores the presentation of the various physical and mental clinical syndromes related to war-trauma on the African continent and the consequent health-seeking behaviors of the African peoples in this regard. The term "culture-bound PTSD syndromes" will be introduced and discussed in the broader context of treatment, rehabilitation, and prevention on the continent and worldwide. It will also discuss the dilemma of the vicious cycles of trauma driven by appetitive aggression in today's Africa which portends to further retard socio-economic development and drives the trans-generational perpetuation of ethnic-based conflicts including genocides. Despite this mass traumatization, the chapter points to the virtual absence of post-conflict mental health policies in almost all African countries, hence leading to discussions of "best-practices" recommendations.

Rural Malawian Women's Resistance to Systematic Oppression, Violence, and Abuse by Their Husbands

In Malawi, 41% of women aged 15 to 49 report ever experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV). Although there is evidence of the pervasiveness of IPV in Malawian society, the context in which it occurs and how women respond is not well described. The purpose of this study was to describe experiences of IPV of rural Malawian women. In-depth interviews were conducted with 55 rural Malawian women aged 21 to 75 years (M = 39) as part of a larger, mixed-methods study. This qualitative thematic analysis highlights husbands' IPV against wives and women's actions to protect themselves and their children, and to thrive despite the violence. Our use of a postcolonial feminist perspective led us to acknowledge Malawian women's acts of resistance in the midst of the harsh realities of IPV and gender inequality. We contend women's resilience and resistance against oppression within intimate relationships are critical tools in the process of reducing IPV. Structural interventions that (a) address the multiple distal and proximal factors affecting IPV, (b) are tailored to and owned by local populations, and (c) involve both men and women as architects and active participants, we believe, hold the greatest promise for reducing IPV in Malawi.

Centering justice: Transforming paradigms of approach, design and implementation

This concluding article presents visions for future research, prevention, intervention, and policy. This paper positions existing research paradigms against social justice principles, problematizing the ideological underpinnings of the legal system and its disproportionate impact on oppressed groups, including through the persistent overrepresentation of youth of color and/or marginalized genders. Highlighting the areas of challenge suggested by each of the manuscripts within the themed issue, this paper encourages critical shifts in the approach, design, and implementation of work with system-involved youth. Recommendations include: strengths-based, rights-based, systems accountability frameworks that account for structural forces and societal issues that produce oppressive contexts, amending and re-defining language to de-stigmatize youth, shifting the targets of this work up the power gradient to avoid victim blaming of youth, engaging participatory methods that provide direct benefit to youth, and critical discourse analysis alongside individual reflexivity to keep ourselves accountable in this work.

Spilling the T on Trans-Misogyny and Microaggressions: An Intersectional Oppression and Social Process Among Trans Women

Minority stress frameworks seek to explain how stress impacts the health of minorities. Examining the social location of trans women in society is critical to understand the unique forms of oppression that engender stress and microaggression for trans women. This article uses intersectionality to examine the lived experiences of young trans women and develop new theoretical concepts to understand the social process of trans-misogyny. We use grounded theory to analyze semistructured, in-depth interviews conducted with 38 young trans women ages 16-24 in Los Angeles and Chicago. Our findings describe key concepts: trans-misogyny, cis-sexism, the passing complex, and transition work. We describe how trans-misogyny acts as an intersectional, interlocking structure of oppression, fueling the passing complex, and, as a result, how trans women experience overt and covert forms of discrimination.

Yoga as Sanctuary: A Valuable Mind-Body Intervention for the Lesbian Community

Poetic autoethnography provides a research methodology to explore yoga as a mind-body intervention that creates sanctuary. Using this qualitative method and retrieving data from my personal journals, daily workout journals, experiences as a lesbian-identified participant in yoga classes, and yoga instructor, I turn the research lens on myself in order to examine my sociological life story. At a critical time in my life when I was struggling with the fragmentation, anxiety, and despair resulting from dealing with homophobia in a heteronormative world, yoga provided sanctuary for me. My yoga practice increased my self-efficacy, providing transferable techniques for finding refuge within myself, irrespective of the adversity I was facing in my life. Places of sanctuary are critical for members of minority groups who often face marginalization and oppression, which compromise their well-being.

Critical Consciousness: A Critique and Critical Analysis of the Literature

The education system has been heralded as a tool of liberation and simultaneously critiqued as a tool of social control to maintain the oppressive status quo. Critical consciousness (CC), developed by the Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, advanced an educational pedagogy to liberate the masses from systemic inequity maintained and perpetuated by process, practices and outcomes of interdependent systems and institutions. If people are not aware of inequity and do not act to constantly resist oppressive norms and ways of being, then the result is residual inequity in perpetuity. If inequity is likened to a disease or poison, then CC has been deemed the antidote to inequity and the prescription needed to break the cycle. As such, CC is a construct that has important scholarly, practice and policy implications. Scholars, noting the relevance and application of CC to current social problems, have advanced CC theory and practice. However, these innovative advancements have left fissures in the CC theoretical base in need of resolution and consensus to advance a collective and organized body of CC theory. This paper explores the divergent CC scholarship within CC theory and practice articles, provides an in-depth review of the inconsistencies, and suggests ideas to resolve the discrepancies from the literature to support the need for a new, CC-based construct, transformative potential. Without such a review, moving toward conceptual clarity, the lack of a coherent CC knowledgebase will impede the reflection and action needed to transform systems and institutions that maintain and perpetuate systemic inequity that have dehumanizing consequences. If implemented within urban education, theoretical models, grounded in CC theory, could help achieve a system of education that is just, equitable and liberating.

The Oppression of Latina Mothers: Experiences of Exploitation, Violence, Marginalization, Cultural Imperialism, and Powerlessness in Their Everyday Lives

Despite Latinos being the largest growing population in the United States, research has not examined the impact of social structures on the well-being of Latina immigrants; negative social discourse and restrictive laws exacerbate inequality and discrimination in this population. Through combined inductive/deductive analysis of in-depth semistructured interviews, we examined immigrant Mexican mothers' ( N = 32) descriptions of oppression in the United States. All five forms of oppression, described in Young's oppression framework are evident: exploitation, violence, marginalization, cultural imperialism, and powerlessness. Discrimination places a high burden on Latinas due to the intersection of forms of oppression and nondominant identities.

Race in an epigenetic time: thinking biology in the plural

The notion that biological memories of environmental experiences can be embedded in the human genome and even transmitted transgenerationally is increasingly relevant in the postgenomic world, particularly in molecular epigenetics, where the genome is conceptualized as porous to environmental signals. In this article I discuss the current rethinking of race in epigenetic rather than genetic terms, emphasizing some of its paradoxical implications, especially for public policy. I claim in particular that: (i) if sociologists want to investigate race in a postgenomic world they should pay more attention to this novel plastic and biosocial view of race; and (ii) there are no reasons to believe that an epigenetic view will extinguish race, or that soft-inheritance claims will produce a less exclusionary discourse than genetics (hard heredity). Quite the opposite, the ground for a re-racialization of social debates and the reinforcement of biological boundaries between groups are highlighted in the article.

The Opposition

Although social workers have an ethical and professional mandate to address inequity, theoretical and treatment approaches usually fail to address historical and structural contexts. In opposition, radical social work bridges individual and community practice by acknowledging that macro forces have micro consequences; micro practices are reflective of macro socio-political processes; and, by opposing the socio-structural forces underlying individual problems. By adopting transformative, anti-oppressive frameworks and practices, radical social workers make visible the invisible social-ecological factors that hurt people, including institutionalized white privilege; transform systems to help individuals rather than helping individuals cope with oppressive systems by reinforcing marginalized roles in accordance with inferior treatment; and develop transformative potential in self and others.

Promising Pedagogy: Advancing the Educational Experience of Queer Students Through Transformative Leadership

The school experience for queer youth is often quite different from that of their heterosexual and gender-conforming peers; yet it is often the c ase that little attention is given to the disparate and inequitable educational and social conditions under which lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) youth must learn. In fact, the entirety of pedagogical structures in many schools creates milieus where queer youth, those who have loved ones who are queer, and those who are merely perceived to be queer are systematically marginalized and deprived of their right to a safe, supportive, and equitable educational experience. Transformative leadership theory (TLT) inspires educational leaders to create inclusive and excellent schools for all youth. Neither a prescriptive model nor a process-oriented theory, TLT offers eight tenets that operate in concert to form an authentic way of being informing and guiding leaders' decisions and actions toward the goal of individual, organizational, and societal change.

Exploring the critiques of the social model of disability: the transformative possibility of Arendt's notion of power

The social model of disability has demonstrated political success for disabled people in society. At the same time, it has been labelled an outdated ideology in need of further development. While the social model of disability has been used successfully for political activism, it has simultaneously created conflict and tensions in disability studies, sociology and the sociology of the body. This article sheds light on the confusion surrounding the social model of disability by discussing the historical emergence of its different forms. It then proceeds to analyse and evaluate key criticisms of the social model of disability. The article then goes on to explore the relevance of different forms of power to the current discourse on disability before proceeding to explore in depth what might be gained from the approach of one particular theorist on power; Hannah Arendt. It suggests that there may be merit in drawing on Arendt and illustrates some of the benefits of a more nuanced idea of a pluralistic body and experiences.

Community Wise: Development of a Model to Address Oppression in Order to Promote Individual and Community Health

Communities with histories of oppression have shown great resilience. Yet few health interventions focus on structural oppression as a contributor to health problems in these communities. This paper describes the development and active ingredients of Community Wise, a unique behavioral-health intervention designed to reduce substance use frequency, related health risk behaviors, and recidivism among individuals with a history of incarceration and substance abuse residing in distressed and predominantly African American communities. Community Wise, developed through the collaborative efforts of a board of service providers, researchers, consumers, and government officials, is a 12-week group intervention that aims to address behavioral-health problems by raising critical consciousness in distressed communities.

Dimensions of oppression in the lives of impoverished black women who use drugs

Oppression against Black women continues to be a significant problem in the United States. The purpose of this study is to use grounded theory to identify multiple dimensions of oppression experienced by impoverished Black women who use drugs by examining several settings in which participants experience oppression. Three case studies of drug using, impoverished Black women were randomly selected from two large scale consecutive ethnographic studies conducted in New York City from 1998 to 2005. Analysis revealed five dimensions of oppression occurring within eight distinct settings. While dimensions constitute different manifestations of oppression, settings represented areas within participants' lives or institutions with which participants interact. Dimensions of oppression included classism, sexism, familism, racism, and drugism. Settings included the school system, correction system, welfare system, housing and neighborhood, relationship with men, family, experiences with drug use, and employment. Findings have important implications for social justice, welfare, drug, and justice system policy.