Triple oppression is a theory developed by black socialists in the United States, such as Claudia Jones

Claudia Jones

Claudia Cumberbatch Jones was a Trinidadian journalist, who applied her skills to becoming a political activist and black nationalist through Communisum....

. The theory states that a connection exists between various types of oppression

Oppression

Oppression is the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. It can also be defined as an act or instance of oppressing, the state of being oppressed, and the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, and...

, specifically classism

Classism

Classism is prejudice or discrimination on the basis of social class. It includes individual attitudes and behaviors, systems of policies and practices that are set up to benefit the upper classes at the expense of the lower classes...

, racism

Racism

Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

, and sexism

Sexism

Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...

. It hypothesizes that you must strike concurrently at all three types of oppression to overcome the oppression.

For an example of triple oppression in practice, consider a factory that contains both men and women of various ethnic backgrounds. If the workers hold racist and sexist beliefs, triple oppression says they will fail to unite to obtain better working conditions, because they are hamstrung by these beliefs.

Triple oppression may have since expanded to further types of oppression such as heterosexism

Heterosexism

Heterosexism is a system of attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of opposite-sex sexuality and relationships. It can include the presumption that everyone is heterosexual or that opposite-sex attractions and relationships are the only norm and therefore superior...

 and speciesism

Speciesism

Speciesism is the assigning of different values or rights to beings on the basis of their species membership. The term was created by British psychologist Richard D...

, as posited by some anarchists.

See also

• Socialism
  Socialism
  Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
  
  
• Intersectionality
  Intersectionality
  Intersectionality is a feminist sociological theory first highlighted by Kimberlé Crenshaw . Intersectionality is a methodology of studying "the relationships among multiple dimensions and modalities of social relationships and subject formations"...
  
  
• Black feminism
  Black feminism
  Black feminism argues that sexism, class oppression, and racism are inextricably bound together. Forms of feminism that strive to overcome sexism and class oppression. The Combahee River Collective argued in 1974 that the liberation of black women entails freedom for all people, since it would...
  
  
• Womanism
  Womanism
  The word womanism was adapted from Pulitzer Prize winning author Alice Walker's use of the term in her book In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose...
  
  

Further reading

• Davies, Carole Boyce. Claudia Jones: Beyond Containment (Ayebia Clarke Publishing Ltd), Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2011.
• Davies, Carole Boyce. Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones, Duke University Press Books, 2008.
• Viehmann, Klaus. Three Into One: The Triple Oppression Of Racism, Sexism And Class, Paper Street, 2004.
• All India Democratic Women's Association. The triple burden: Some issues of class and caste oppression of women (AIDWA publication series), B. Karat on behalf of AIDWA, 1999.

External links

• Three Into One: The Triple Oppression of Racism, Sexism, and Class, by Klaus Viehmann, hosted by Senza Censura.org
• Claudia Jones profile, hosted on Black History Pages.net.