ABSTRACT
Studying sociology in the late 1980s helped me to begin to make sense of racial oppression. Sociology gave me (as it has given many other students) an understanding of the ways in which economic systems and political and social ideologies work. More importantly, I was able to examine how individuals and groups are discriminated against within political and social structures, due to lack of power. I theoretically explored the personal, cultural and structural factors which contribute towards and maintain oppression (Thompson 1997). It was at this point that I was able to make connections for the first time with people who had
experienced different kinds of oppression: racism, sexism, hetero-sexism, ageism, disablism and class oppression. I also began to face up to the impact that oppression and inequality had made on me personally, in terms of marginalisation, subjugation, exclusion, powerlessness and self-hatred.1
