There are many different types of social institutions that can oppress or limit oppression. These can include, government institutions such as the legal system (justices and courts), education, and media, religious institutions, cultural institutions, such as marriage and family roles, colonial institutions, and one last example can include science institutions. These different forms of institutions can oppress people in many different ways. For example, the government can limit what is shown on the media, which in turn oppresses what we see. We can see this happening a lot, even within our own government. Many do not know of world affairs taking affect because our government does not want us, or them, to get involved. We can see this happening with the genocide in Rwanda, and also with the war in Sierra Leone.
Government oppression is a large problem seen around the world. Just by studying what has been happening in Rwanda and Sierra Leone, we can see how their government has oppressed them, causing rebels to act out against their own people. Genocide and child soldiers are two extremes that have come about during times of war in these countries. These types of governments are perpetuated by power. They have not been able to be stopped until large actions have been taken. All through history conflicts have arose from central governments that have too much power. When rights are taken away from people, history has showed us time, and time again, that they will fight to get them back.
Another form of oppressive institutions that we have seen throughout this trimester is religious institutions. Many conflicts have arisen from religious differences between people. From what we can see in the video we are currently watching, Oh My God, we have learned that there are many different views on what is right and wrong. Religious institutions remain in tact because of the amount of people that associate themselves with a religion, 87% of the world’s population. 31.5% of people worldwide belong to Christianity alone, where 87% of the time they live in a country where they are a majority. With all of these people worldwide it is easy to see how religion can be such a dominating power over people, and how it can fuel conflicts between different types of people.
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