class

A person or group’s relationship to how wealth is generated and how the economy is managed.

Under the umbrella of “CLASS”:

Capitalist Class – The Ruling class within the system of Capitalism, sometimes referred to as the bourgeoisie.  These are the private owners of the resources and technology needed to run the economy (factories, raw materials, etc), the resources needed to move products from place to place (trucks, airlines, ships, etc) and the methods of mass communication (newspapers and television stations etc).  Members of the capitalist class privately own businesses that employ and exploit middle and working class people to gain a profit.  As the ruling class, Capitalists not only control the economy, they also have the most power to influence the State (politicians, policy, judicial processes, etc) and ideology (through media, education, etc).  Examples include major corporations, CEOs, etc. 

Middle Class – A “buffer” class between the Capitalist and Working classes.  These are people who own enough property to survive without having to work for someone else, but not enough to exploit other people on a large scale.  Examples include corner store owners, small business owners, etc.

Working Class – People who don’t own enough wealth to live off of and must work for wages.  Examples include factory workers, janitors, nurses, school teachers, etc.  Also includes unemployed people and those who require government assistance 

Underclass – The poorest and most disadvantaged section of the working class.  Includes people who rely on government assistance for their primary income and those who survive through the informal economy (e.g. street vending) and/or illegal economy (e.g. drug dealing)

democracy

A form of organization or society in which power is broadly shared and people have the ability to actively participate in decision making.

exploitation

The use of a person or thing in an unfair or cruel manner to the benefit of another person.  In economics, the term is used to describe the process by which one person profits from another person’s labor without offering them fair compensation.  

feminism

A broad set of social movements and ideologies aimed at establishing and defending the political, economic, cultural, and social equality of all genders.  

heteropatriarchy

A system of gender oppression in which cis-gendered heterosexual men gain power, privilege, and profit at the expense of women, lesbian, gay, transgender and queer people.  Heteropatriarchy is a system of domination based on the principle that “strong men” have power over other individuals, including other men.

Under the umbrella of “HETEROPATRIARCHY”:

Sex – The biological distinction of male or female.  

Gender – What a society or culture defines as the “appropriate” behaviors, roles, and personality traits for a person based on their sex – in other words, what it means to be a “woman” and what it means to be a “man.” 

Gender Binary – A dominant social system that asserts that there are only two genders and everyone’s gender matches the sex they were assigned at birth.  The gender binary assumes the following:

1. Has a penis = male = man = masculine = attracted to women

2. Has a vagina = female = woman = feminine = attracted to men 

Sexual Orientation – The way someone is sexually attracted to another person.  In other words, what “turns you on.”  Some examples include a woman being attracted to another woman, a man being attracted to another man, a woman being attracted to a man and vice versa, or a person being attracted to both.   

Sexism – A set of individual practices (behaviors, acts, interactions) and prejudices that play out in which men exert power and privilege over women.  Sexism is the “person to person” discrimination and prejudice women experience under the system of patriarchy.  

Homosexual – A technical term used to describe a person who has a relationship with someone of the same sex. 

Heterosexism – A system of oppression that gives heterosexual people power and privilege at the expense of gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, questioning, and transgender people.

Homophobia – Literally means “fear of homosexual.”  This word describes behaviors and ideas that are oppressive to lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and transgender people.

Lesbian – A female homosexual.

Bisexual – A term used to describe a person who has relationships with both men and women.

Biphobia – The interpersonal fear or hatred of bisexual people.  Biphobia can exist within gay, lesbian, tansgender, and straight communities.   

Transgender – An umbrella term used for people whose gender identity/presentation does not match the gender they were assigned at birth and people whose gender identity does not confirm to binary gender roles like man and woman.  

Cisgender – Used to describe a person whose sense of personal gender identity corresponds with the gender they were assigned at birth.

Transphobia – The institutional and interpersonal fear, hatred, and discrimination of Transgender people because their gender identity does not match the gender they were assigned at birth.   

Questioning – Describes a person who is in the process of figuring out their sexual identity/orientation.

LGBTQQ – An acronym that stands for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning.” 

Transmisogynoir- A term coined by the writer Trudy as the specific oppression of Black trans feminine people where anti-blackness, aexism and misogyny form a unique system of oppression. (Transgender Law Center).
Queer – An umbrella term to mean anyone who is LGBTQQ.  Previously this term was derogatory, but it was reclaimed by activists from LGBTQQ communities.

INSTITUTION

An organization or establishment that maintains customs, laws, or relationships within society or a community.  Institutions manage the state of affairs or “status quo.” 

INTERSECTIONALITY

 The complex ways in which multiple relationships of oppression interact in our society to maintain a hierarchy of power and privilege that is based on class, race, gender and sexuality, religion, and ableism.

liberation

The process of breaking down all forms of oppression and rebuilding a society that is based on equality, dignity, and democracy for all people.

male supremacy

Male supremacy is a hateful ideology advocating for the subjugation of women.

microagression

A statement, action or incident regarded as an instance of indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group.

oppression

The domination, hurtful treatment, and exclusion of one group or groups of people for the benefit of another group.   

Under the umbrella of “OPPRESSION”:

Institutional Oppression – Oppression that comes from institutions of power in our society, such as government, schools, corporations, etc.

Interpersonal Oppression – Oppression that occurs through interactions between people.  This can happen between people within the same oppressed group (Exp. Black on Black), between people from different oppressed groups (Exp. Latino on Black), or between people from a privileged group and people from an oppressed group (Exp. White on Black).
Internalized Oppression – Oppression that limits our beliefs about our own potential and the potential of communities we belong to and come from.  This happens when we believe the misconceptions and lies about our own group – “us attacking ourselves”

POWER

The ability to control circumstances, i.e. to get what one wants.  

Under the umbrella of “POWER”:

Privilege – An advantage or benefit enjoyed by an individual or group at the expense of others.  Systems of privilege unfairly help certain groups while holding other groups back.  

Reform: Changes that improve conditions for oppressed people without changing the fundamental organization of power and the economy or challenging state power.  Within capitalism, there is some space for struggle. The organized power of oppressed people can win real concessions, but these reforms cannot fundamentally challenge capitalism or the capitalist state.  Reform struggles are an important part of the revolutionary process, but they cannot themselves transform the political and economic system on a fundamental level. 

Reformism – The worldview that revolution is not necessary, possible and/or positive. Instead, sufficient changes can be won within the current political and economic structure. 

Revolution – A revolution is the complete takeover of the current political structure (the state) in order to transform the political, economic and social systems of society.  The state is the primary protector and facilitator of capitalism.  Therefore, in order to end the economic system of capitalism, revolutionaries must engage in political struggle to take control of the state. Revolutionaries from different ideological traditions disagree about whether the capitalist state should be replaced by a new democratic socialist state or by decentralized non-state alternatives.  
State – The social and political structures that maintain the existing order of society.  This includes the government, military, police, criminal legal system, public education system, etc.  The state is designed to protect and promote the interests of the ruling class and facilitates the continued class domination and exploitation of oppressed people.  In order to maintain control, the state relies on force and violence as well as the domination of ideas and values.

RACIAL CAPITALISM

The system we live under in which wealthy people – who are overwhelmingly white – gain power, privilege, and profit through the exploitation and oppression of working-class people of all colors.

Under capitalism, the means of production (factories, land, machines, etc) are privately owned by a wealthy minority and the production of goods and services happens for their profit.  Decisions regarding supply, demand, price, distribution and investments are made by private interests in the “free market”.  In other words, it’s a system of social production and private accumulation. Because capitalism constantly produces more stuff with less and less human labor, capitalism is inherently unstable and prone to crisis over time. 

Under the umbrella of “RACIAL CAPITALISM”:

Racial inequality is built into the structure of capitalism, and race and class work together to shape government policies and cultural norms. As a result, people of color are disproportionately represented among the ranks of the poor and working classes.

Imperialism – The global system in which certain nations establish empires through the political, economic, cultural, and territorial domination and subordination of other nations and peoples.  Under imperialism, advanced capitalist countries exploit the resources and labor of colonized countries. This super-exploitation of poorer countries allows the capitalist countries (including some former colonial nations) to maintain a section of the working-class who are content with imperial domination because they receive a slightly higher standard of living.  This higher standard of living can create peaceful relations between labor and capital in imperialist countries.  This was largely the case in the U.S. during the period between the end of World War II (mid-1940’s) and the late 1970’s.  It is important to note that imperialism is a global system; it is not a set of foreign policies.

Neoliberalism – A system that has brought all nations and peoples into the global capitalist structure under the leadership and dominance of the United States. Neoliberalism is sometimes used interchangeably with the term globalization and generally refers to the same political economic system. The features of Neoliberalism can generally be summed up as: 

1. An overall world view that uplifts the “free market” as the solution to most if not all social problems

2. Cuts to public programs and services; this includes everything from food stamps, to public education, to the postal service

3. Privatization; i.e. public programs and services are transferred to corporations so they can make a profit off of them 

4. Deregulation; changing laws and policies so that corporations can make larger profits without being accountable for things like worker rights and livelihoods, environmental damage, or other community impacts 

SYSTEM

A group of institutions, social relations, cultural norms, policies and practices working together to function as a complex whole.

WHITE SUPREMACY

A system of racial oppression that gives white (European descended) people power, privilege, and profit at the expense of people of color and people from the Global South.  White supremacy is based on the racist ideology that the people and cultures that descend from Europe are superior to the people and cultures that descend from Africa, Asia, and the Americas.  This form of social control is used to justify the establishment and maintenance of social inequality.   

Under the umbrella of “WHITE SUPREMACY”:

Race – A way to categorize people based on appearance, origin, culture and/or language.  Race is a false construction.  Although there is great diversity amongst the world’s people, biologically speaking we are all essentially the same.  There is no such thing as distinct “races” of people, we are all human beings.  

Racism – A system in which one group dominates, mistreats, and discriminates another group(s) based on “race.” Racism is based on systemic power and privilege; Racism = Racial Prejudice + Power.  This means that within the system of white supremacy, in which white people are dominant, racism only afflicts people of color.  It is possible for white people to experience racial prejudice, but not racism.  While White supremacy is the most dominant form of racism in the world, there are other forms such as Japanese racism against Koreans.    

        
Racial Prejudice– Making assumptions or holding stereotypes about a person or group based on “race.”  Prejudices against people of color are typically based on racist beliefs that they are inferior.

XENOPHOBIA

The institutional and interpersonal fear or hatred of people who immigrate or are new to an area different from where they were born.