INTERACTIONS.ACM.ORG 68 INTERACTIONS NOVEMBER–DECEMBER2014
Community + Culture features practitioner perspectives on designing technologies for and with communities. We highlight
compelling projects and provocative points of view that speak to both community technology practice and the interaction
design field as a whole. — Christopher A. Le Dantec, Editor
FORUM COMMUNITY + CULTURE
The anti-oppression framework
itself was synthesized in the field of
social work and is described as “a
tool to understand and respond to
the complexity of the experience of
oppression” [ 2]. In other words, the anti-oppression framework understands good
as that which strives to end one or more
forms of oppression.
In contemporary society, oppression
unfortunately takes myriad forms.
Common among them are racism/
white supremacy, colonialism, sexism,
transphobia, heterosexism, classism,
ableism, religious oppression, and ageism.
Furthermore, each of these types
of oppression can exist on individual,
institutional, and cultural levels
(Figure 1). For example, transphobia
might manifest individually in a parent
forbidding their boy from dressing in
feminine clothes, institutionally in
the lack of coverage for transgender
healthcare in most insurance plans, and
culturally in the commonly held myth
that gender and physical anatomy are
the same thing.
Further complicating the picture,
oppressions can be conscious or
unconscious, and often intersect,
meaning that a combination of several
forms of oppression (e.g., the sexism and
In recent years the HCI community has expressed interest in the social impact of technology. Various research projects have explored how technology can be designed to enhance civic participation and public discourse, provide succor
during crises and natural disasters,
extend services to the homeless, support
national reconciliation after civil
conflicts, improve healthcare delivery in
developing countries, and so on.
Underlying this kind of work is a
value judgment that it represents an
earnest contribution to the collective
social good. Indeed, the noun good has
made several appearances. One Georgia
Tech initiative styles itself Computing
for Good. An upcoming conference
dubbed Social Good Tech advertises
that “social good organizations deserve
the most innovative technologies”
[ 1]. But this discourse then raises
the question: What is good? As
technologists, we find this question is
harder than ever to answer in the age of
such ethically confounding enterprises
as Facebook and Google.
Here, we explore an analytical tool
called the anti-oppression framework
as a means of judging the “goodness”
of a technological project or artifact.
We review the implications of the
framework for the field of interaction
design, both for the things we design
and for the environment in which we
design them.
Oppression theory has its roots
in women’s studies and such ideas
as Patricia Hill Collins’s matrix of
domination, Elisabeth Schüssler
Fiorenza’s kyriarchy, and Kimberlé
Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality.
racism encountered by a black woman)
form a distinct experience that must be
understood separately rather than as a
sum of its parts.
The concept of privilege is also
central to the anti-oppression
framework. Privilege refers to
unearned advantages enjoyed simply
as a consequence of one’s membership
in a given group. A helpful metaphor
compares privilege with the difficulty
setting in a video game—being
privileged means playing on the
easiest setting. Privilege should
not be construed as an insult or
indictment, nor does it mean that a
privileged individual cannot be the
target of oppression. Rather, it refers
to structural barriers—advantages
such as access to a quality education,
bank loans, fulfilling employment,
and adequate healthcare are all
demonstrably tied to privilege.
A final important entry in the
anti-oppressive lexicon is the notion
of social justice, which represents the
opposite of oppression: The freedom
of individuals to determine their own
paths without having to confront
structural barriers. The term also
generally refers to the pursuit of such a
reality, through which unjust barriers
are eroded and abolished.
CHOOSING A PROBLEM
The anti-oppression framework
can serve as a guide for how best to
expend resources, be it the choice of
a research topic, the focus of a new
social enterprise, or the selection of
clients and projects as an industry
consultant. In discussing the anti-
oppression framework in the context
Insights
→ The anti-oppression framework can
help us build technology “for good.”
→ Creating safe, democratic tech
workplaces is essential to
counteracting oppression.
→ The worker cooperative
organizational form is a great choice
for anti-oppressive tech ventures.
Anti-Oppressive Design
Thomas Smyth and Jill Dimond, Sassafras Tech Collective
