ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how social systems of oppression are woven into the fabric of society in ways that often go unnoticed. Codes of superiority along race and gender lines unconsciously appear in the clinical encounter between therapist and client, among colleagues, and within training groups. The idea that we may unintentionally harm our clients or colleagues can feel difficult to reconcile with our desire to do good. A shift to a new paradigm that incorporates social justice and creates space for the therapist to embrace humility and be more active in the face of bias is proposed. Recognizing racism and sexism as codes of superiority in our social systems will help us adapt current group theories and models of group leadership. By practicing willingness to be wrong, to more readily feel shame and guilt, and to be willing to act to remedy the conditions that cause systems of superiority, we can work to counter the unwritten codes of superiority that underlie our individual and group interactions.
