Work for black women has been an important and valued dimension of Afrocentric definitions of black motherhood.
Patricia Hill CollinsRead
To maintain their power, dominant groups create and maintain a popular system of 'commonsense' ideas that support their right to rule. In the United States, hegemonic ideologies concerning race, class, gender, sexuality, and nation are often so pervasive that it is difficult to conceptualize alternatives to them, let alone ways of resisting the social practices that they justify.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote discusses how dominant groups impose their belief systems to legitimize their power and hinder alternative viewpoints.
Patricia Hill Collins highlights the mechanisms by which powerful groups maintain their dominance through the establishment of widely accepted 'commonsense' ideas that reinforce their authority. These ideologies, which encompass race, class, gender, sexuality, and nation, are so ingrained in the social fabric of the United States that they often go unquestioned, making it challenging for people to envision alternative ways of thinking or to resist the social norms that these beliefs perpetuate.
Themes
PowerDominanceIdeologyCommonsenseHegemonyResistance
In practice
Example use cases
During a seminar on social justice, this quote can be used to illustrate how systemic beliefs shape societal views.
More from Patricia Hill Collins
All quotes →Oppressed groups are frequently placed in the situation of being listened to only if we frame our ideas in the language that is familiar to and comfortable for a dominant group. This requirement often changes the meaning of our ideas and works to elevate the ideas of dominant groups.
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The role model approach to social change is no substitute for challenging unjust employment practices, educational policies and housing.
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Challenging power structures from the inside, working the cracks within the system, however, requires learning to speak multiple languages of power convincingly.
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Under the color-blind ideology of the new racism, Blackness must be SEEN as evidence for the alleged color blindness that seemingly characterizes contemporary economic opportunity.
Patricia Hill CollinsRead
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