The behavior of the oppressed is a prescribed behavior, following as it does the guidelines of the oppressor.
Paulo FreireRead
The parent-child relationship in the home usually reflects the objective cultural conditions of the surrounding social structure. If the conditions which penetrate the home are authoritarian, rigid, and dominating, the home will increase the climate of oppression. As these authoritarian relations between parents and children intensify, children in their infancy increasingly internalize the paternal authority.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The dynamics of parent-child relationships are shaped by the broader social environment. Authoritarian conditions can lead to an oppressive family climate.
In this quote, Paulo Freire emphasizes that the nature of the parent-child relationship is deeply influenced by the cultural and social context in which the family exists. If a society is characterized by authoritarian and oppressive structures, these qualities extend into the home, leading to an environment where children internalize the dominating authority of their parents. This suggests that the family serves as a microcosm of societal norms and values, shaping how children learn to navigate authority and power as they grow.
Themes
Parent-Child RelationshipAuthoritarianOppressionSocial StructureInternalization
In practice
Example use cases
In a parenting workshop discussing the effects of societal structures on family dynamics.
More from Paulo Freire
All quotes →How can the oppressed, as divided, unauthentic beings, participate in developing the pedagogy of their liberation?
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Critical and liberating dialogue, which presupposes action, must be carried on with the oppressed at whatever the stage of their struggle for liberation. The content of that dialogue can and should vary in accordance with historical conditions and the level at which the oppressed perceive reality.
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This is the sense in which I am obliged to be a listener. To listen to the student's doubts, fears, and incompetencies that are part of the learning process. It is in listening to the student that I learn to speak with him or her.
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This pedagogy makes oppression and its causes objects of reflection by the oppressed, and from that reflection will come their necessary engagement in the struggle for their liberation. And in the struggle this pedagogy will be made and remade
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The oppressors do not perceive their monopoly on having more as a privilege which dehumanizes others and themselves. They cannot see that, in the egoistic pursuit of having as a possessing class, they suffocate in their own possessions and no longer are; they merely have.
Paulo FreireRead
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