Community and social policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Community and social policy - Essay Example The two features, oppression and discrimination, have become very common in making it almost impossible for individuals to move up the professional ladder in the labor market. Giddens (1993) therefore provides a definition of discrimination as the activity or action that grabs away the opportunities from a specific group, making them out of their reach. It is in this essay therefore that I will lay my focus on old age and mental illness or disability as core areas of discrimination and oppression in the society. I also will look at the similarities and differences between these core areas of discrimination I will study disability as an area of oppression in society. During my first part I will search the meaning of discrimination and oppression within our society. The significance of anti-discriminatory practice will be debated and tracked by an introduction and description of the PCS model of analyses. Thompson (1993) is used to highlight discrimination and oppression on three diffe rent levels. Oppression is a state in which a culture, group, society, state or individual have military, economic and political power that they use in such a wrong way which ends up disadvantaging the powerless in the society. Individuals carrying out the oppression are in control of those under them and therefore better placed when it comes to discriminating against other people. This heinous act comes by just as another group that feels more special gets the mere perception that the other group exists (Cohen, 1988). It is the various groups existing in the society that makes it easier for these forms of discrimination to take place; with the knowledge of the weaker group, therefore forming attitudes against one another. Mental health problem is a term that encompasses a great deal of problems that have an effect on the way an individual carries out with their day to day living. According to The World Health Organization (WHO,