The meek and the mighty: Two models of oppression
| Author | Yuna Blajer de la Garza |
| DOI | 10.1177/1474885120916331 |
| Date | 01 July 2022 |
| Published date | 01 July 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article EJPT
The meek and the
mighty: Two models
of oppression
Yuna Blajer de la Garza
McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society,
Stanford University, USA
Abstract
This article is an exercise in theory-building about the stories that justify, feed upon, and
reproduce systems of oppression. I argue that emotional narratives contribute to the
constitution and reproduction of systems of oppression, and that different emotional
narratives constitute different forms of oppression. I examine two of these emotional
narratives: a narrative articulated around pity and a narrative that draws on fear.
I propose that the former prevails when those in power do not perceive the members
of the oppressed group as posing a threat to their power structure, in turn inducing
low-intensity charitable state action. Conversely, narratives that deploy fear prevail
when the group in power believes that the oppressed group presents a threat to
their power structure (regardless of how “true” that perception is), in turn eliciting
high-intensity repressive state action. While narratives of pity recur to the infantiliza-
tion of the members of the disadvantaged group, narratives of fear animalize them.
Keywords
emotions, fear, inequality, narratives, oppression, pity
In his Second Treatise, the otherwise rather moderate John Locke wrote that in
breaking the law, criminals had “renounced reason,” effectively declaring war
against all humankind. They could be “destroyed as a lion or a tyger [sic], one
of those wild savage beasts, with whom men can have no society nor security”
(Locke, 2010 [1689]: Ch. II, §11). Justifying punishment by arguing that those who
Corresponding author:
Yuna Blajer de la Garza, Crown Building, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, 3rd Floor, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Email: yunablajer@stanford.edu
European Journal of Political Theory
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DOI: 10.1177/1474885120916331
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2022, Vol. 21(3) 491–513
must be punished are to be feared since they lack reason and are akin to animals is
a familiar trope. Three centuries after Locke, and in arguing for harsher immigra-
tion policies, President Trump spoke of immigrants as animals.
1
Animalizing and
stoking fear of some groups contrasts with the infantilization and pitying of others,
both in historical and contemporary examples. John Stuart Mill’s (1991 [1859]: 14)
description of the “nonage” of some peoples, for instance, has made many Mill
enthusiasts cringe. Similarly, the unfortunate widespread contemporary use of the
diminutive in Mexico to speak of people of indigenous descent has a similarly
patronizing tone: ind
ıgena or indio becoming indito (little Indian), no matter if
the person in question is a boy or a 70-year-old man.
2
In this article, I argue that systems of oppression can be constituted and
sustained through emotional narratives, and that different emotional narratives
constitute different forms of oppression. I discuss two major narratives that,
I propose, have been mobilized by groups in power to support the systems of
oppression they benefit from: a narrative articulated around pity and a narrative
that deploys fear. The former tends to infantilize the members of the group
oppressed, while the latter animalizes them, as my examples above illustrate.
I will argue that narratives that draw upon pity prevail when those in power do
not perceive the members of the oppressed group as posing a threat to the power
structure they benefit from, in turn inducing low-intensity charitable state action.
Conversely, narratives that deploy fear prevail when the group in power believes
that the oppressed group presents a threat to their power structure (regardless of the
accuracy of that perception), in turn eliciting high-intensity punitive state action.
Although I will draw mostly from the depictions of African Americans and Native
Americans
3
to illustrate my arguments, it is beyond the scope of this text to dissect
the historical trajectories that characterize the experiences of specific groups, as well
as how pity gives way to fear, or viceversa. To be sure, I do not mean to suggest that
only fear and pity contribute to the reproduction of oppressive structures, but that
they are two major emotional narratives that help sustain oppression.
Narratives—not only in the arrant nakedness of insults and slights, but also in
myriad inconspicuous ways—can be, by themselves, affronts to human dignity and
the equal respect that undergirds a pursuit of democratic equality (Anderson, 1999;
Margalit, 1996). Moreover, narratives are mobilized both by elites in power and
regular citizens—sometimes more intentionally than others—to condone policies
and practices that reproduce oppressive systems. Therefore, a discussion of emo-
tional narratives is not a sentimental indulgence, but can contribute to elucidating
the emergence and persistence of oppressive systems.
Oppression and emotions: A short literature review
Discussions of oppression
Oppression has been a core interest of an array of subfields within the social
sciences and humanities—scholars of feminism, post-colonialism, race and
492 European Journal of Political Theory 21(3)
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