Through “Five Faces of Oppression,” I. M, Young elaborates on the five fundamental aspects of oppression. Following a Marxist approach of class structure, she explains that exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence fuel oppression. Of course she does state that these five “faces” are objective and only act as factors that support the idea that a group is oppressed. An example for this would be when Young states that the working-class people are exploited and powerless and that old people and disabled people are oppressed through marginalization and cultural imperialism.

Applying this to the group looking into mental health, we have to look at how those with declining mental health are oppressed (assuming that they are). Utilizing Young’s passage as a reference, one can say that those with issues of mental health go through cultural imperialism which in turn results to being marginalized and powerless.
The main cause of oppression would be cultural imperialism. As defined in the text, cultural imperialism is when a certain culture is established as the norm. In regards to mental health, it wasn’t until recently that mental health issues such as depression was even brought up as a problem. The whole stigma around it was that it either didn’t exist or that it wasn’t important. The standard before was that everyone was mentally stable. With the old norm being set in place, it caused many to be marginalized and powerless since the problem wasn’t seen as a problem in the first place.
Therefore under Young’s five “faces” of oppression, those with mental health disorders can be determined as oppressed. The next question is, “How can this be changed?” That is what Thrive NYC is for. As for how effective Thrive NYC will be, only time will tell.

Discussion Question: Will there ever be a point where oppression will cease to exist?