We Are the Oppressor and the Oppressed: The Interplay Between Intrapsychic, Interpersonal, and Societal Intersectionality

Abstract This paper explores the idea of multiple social identities in individuals and the interplay of these identities intrapsychically, interpersonally, and systemically. Oppression is often viewed as a binary concept: Either one is the oppressor or the oppressed. The author develops ideas of pluralism and intersectionality that exist in individuals and society to illustrate how everyone has the experience of being both the oppressor and the oppressed. He provides examples of responses to oppression at all levels (intrapsychic, interpersonal, and systemic) and builds on ideas from radical psychiatry to explain ways to move out of oppression. The article concludes with reflective questions that invite readers to explore the possible dynamics that exist in the therapy room as well as in other fields and contexts of human relations practice.