Oppressed groups internalize dominant categories and police their own members to gain acceptance

Evidence

In a deeply racist society, oppressed groups, through a process that W. E. B. Du Bois calls “double consciousness,” come to see themselves through dominant categories. Thus, as Zareena Grewal writes, “Muslim Americans leaders-turned spokespeople affirm their positive identification with the US as good, flag-waving citizens, identifying Islam in terms of normative definitions of a good religion and claiming a space in the cultural mainstream through the disavowal and identification of bad Muslims and bad Islam.” — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 717

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Du Bois’s double consciousness concept and to broader literatures on minority respectability politics (the ‘model minority’ dynamic). — connects to: Privileged groups rationalize oppression by claiming the oppressed enjoy advantages — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1972; Disadvantaged groups accept stereotypes that sustain their own oppression. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 2911; A group can move from oppressed to oppressor by changing its racial assignment — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 31 (+13 more)
• BMF: The ‘good Muslim/bad Muslim’ policing dynamic echoes Changez’s self-conscious performance and rejection in The Reluctant Fundamentalist, where the protagonist resists being slotted into the category the Empire assigns him.

Broader Connections

• Oppressed groups can adopt and police the racist ideas used against them #corroborates (0.95) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 516
• Subordinate groups often internalize dominant-group evaluations and derogate their own group #corroborates (0.90) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2691
• Oppressed groups internalize dominant categories through double consciousness #expands (0.85)
• Oppressed groups self-police by competing to excel in assigned roles. #exemplifies (0.85)
• Subordinates actively cooperate in their own oppression #corroborates (0.85)
• Subordinate groups can actively contribute to their own oppression by endorsing hierarchy-justifying ideologies. #expands (0.80) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 852
• Subordinates sometimes favor dominant groups over their own ingroups #exemplifies (0.80) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3209
• Paternalistic stereotypes can be internalized by the oppressed group itself. #corroborates (0.80)
• Subordinated racial groups actively participate in creating and maintaining hierarchy #corroborates (0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3583
• Subordinate groups often favor their oppressors rather than showing ethnocentrism #exemplifies (0.75)