Privileged groups rationalize oppression by claiming the oppressed enjoy advantages

Evidence

There are American sociologists seriously teaching today the theory of “low-class gain,” that is, the “advantages of the lower castes.” In France as well it has often been proclaimed—albeit less scientifically—that workers are indeed lucky not to be obliged to “present well,” and even more so tramps who could dress in rags and sleep on the streets, pleasures that were forbidden to the comte de Beaumont and those poor Wendel gentlemen. Like the filthy carefree souls cheerfully scratching their vermin, like the joyful Negroes laughing while being lashed, and like these gay Arabs of Sousse with a smile on their lips, burying their children who starved to death, the woman enjoys this incomparable privilege: irresponsibility. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1972

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘low-class gain’ argument parallels later critiques of the ‘happy slave’ and ‘noble savage’ tropes — connects to the reader’s framework comparing rationalizations of domination across race and class. — connects to: Oppressed groups internalize dominant categories and police their own members to gain acceptance — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 717; Dominant groups defend privilege through bounded ideological justifications; Subordinates actively cooperate in their own oppression (+4 more)
• SEED: Essay angle: the recurring ‘irresponsibility-as-privilege’ rhetoric as a cross-cultural rationalization of subordination — from women to colonial subjects to workers.

Broader Connections

• Dominant groups defend privilege through bounded ideological justifications #corroborates (0.80)
• Oppressed groups internalize dominant categories and police their own members to gain acceptance #expands (0.78) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 717
• Subordinates actively cooperate in their own oppression #expands (0.72)