What is Anti Oppression?
Anti-oppression is a framework of strategies, theories, and practices that actively challenges systems of oppression on an ongoing basis in daily life and social justice work. It seeks to recognize the oppression that exists in society and attempts to mitigate its effects and eventually equalize the power imbalance in communities. The framework aims to eradicate the many forms of oppression by examining and challenging power dynamics while empowering those who experience oppression.
Unlike diversity and inclusion work—which focuses on acknowledging, valuing, and celebrating differences—anti-oppression work challenges the systemic biases that devalue and marginalize differences. Oppression operates at different levels (from individual to institutional to cultural) and so anti-oppression must as well. The framework addresses multiple forms of oppression including racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, ageism, and class oppression, recognizing that these systems often intersect and reinforce one another.
Origins & Lineage
The term anti-oppression originated in the 1970s and is rooted in the field of social work. The framework emerged as practitioners and theorists sought more comprehensive approaches to addressing inequality and marginalization in service delivery and society at large.
Key foundational texts include Jane Dalrymple and Beverley Burke’s Anti-Oppressive Practice: Social Care and the Law (1995), which established core principles and approaches to anti-oppressive practice in social services. Anti-oppressive practice means recognizing power imbalances and working toward the promotion of change to redress the balance of power, as they defined it. Lena Dominelli’s Anti-Oppressive Social Work Theory and Practice (2002) further developed the theoretical framework, exploring how social workers could enable clients to challenge oppression through practice informed by critical consciousness.
Anti-oppressive practice is an interdisciplinary approach primarily rooted within the practice of social work that focuses on ending socioeconomic oppression. It requires the practitioner to critically examine the power imbalance inherent in an organizational structure with regard to the larger sociocultural and political context. The framework draws on critical social theory, feminist theory, anti-racist theory, decolonization theory, queer theory, and disability justice, among other disciplines.
How It’s Practiced
Anti-oppression practice manifests through concrete actions at personal, cultural, and structural levels. The principles of reflexivity, social difference, historical and geographical location, the personal as political, power and powerlessness, and the act of challenging provide a framework which can be used to inform work with people in need.
Practitioners engage in critical self-reflection to examine their own biographies, privileges, and biases—understanding how these shape their capacity to work effectively with others. This involves ongoing examination of one’s social position, power, and the ways personal experiences influence practice decisions.
In organizational and community settings, anti-oppression work includes challenging discriminatory policies, centering the knowledge and perspectives of marginalized communities, and advocating for systemic changes that address root causes of inequality. It involves recognizing that people hold multiple intersecting identities that shape their experiences of both oppression and privilege.
In spiritual and conscious communities, anti-oppression principles inform approaches to community building, leadership structures, and program design. This includes examining how spiritual spaces may inadvertently replicate dominant culture norms and working to create genuinely inclusive environments.
Anti Oppression Today
Contemporary seekers and practitioners encounter anti-oppression frameworks across multiple contexts. Spiritual and wellness communities increasingly integrate anti-oppression principles into retreat structures, teacher training programs, and organizational governance. Universities and social service organizations offer anti-oppression training and consultancy to help practitioners develop skills in addressing power dynamics and systemic inequality.
Many meditation centers, yoga studios, and conscious community spaces now explicitly incorporate anti-oppression frameworks, recognizing the need to address how spiritual practice intersects with social justice. Spirituality and anti-oppression models reinforce one another and reaffirm commitment to values of human worth, self-determination as well as meaning, collectiveness and social justice.
Online and in-person workshops, study circles, and community dialogues provide spaces for people to learn about oppression, examine their own privileges and biases, and develop accountability practices. Organizations create anti-oppression frameworks that articulate core values such as humility, shifting power, solidarity, and co-ownership.
Common Misconceptions
Anti-oppression is often conflated with diversity and inclusion initiatives, but these are distinct approaches. While both are necessary for creating equity, diversity and inclusion focus on representation and belonging, whereas anti-oppression specifically targets dismantling systemic barriers and redistributing power.
Some assume anti-oppression work means focusing exclusively on individual attitudes or behaviors. In reality, the framework explicitly addresses personal, cultural, and structural levels of oppression simultaneously, recognizing that individual change alone cannot transform oppressive systems.
Anti-oppression is not a fixed destination or certification but an ongoing process of learning, reflection, and action. It requires continuous engagement rather than one-time training or reading.
The framework is sometimes misunderstood as blaming individuals for systemic problems. Instead, it examines how all people—both those with privilege and those experiencing oppression—are shaped by and participate in larger systems, while holding those with greater power accountable for working toward change.
How to Begin
Those new to anti-oppression work can begin with foundational texts that provide theoretical grounding and practical guidance. Lena Dominelli’s Anti-Oppressive Social Work Theory and Practice offers comprehensive analysis of how oppression operates and how to address it. Jane Dalrymple and Beverley Burke’s Anti-Oppressive Practice provides accessible principles for recognizing and challenging power imbalances.
Seek out organizations and teachers who explicitly name their anti-oppression commitments and demonstrate how they practice these principles. Look for spaces that welcome questions, acknowledge tensions, and create accountability structures rather than claiming to have “solved” oppression.
Engage in critical self-reflection practices that help identify your own privileges, biases, and relationship to systems of power. Many communities offer study circles, discussion groups, or accountability pods focused on specific forms of oppression such as racism, ableism, or economic exploitation.
Connect with grassroots organizations and movements led by people directly affected by the forms of oppression you’re working to address. Center their knowledge and leadership rather than approaching anti-oppression work as an intellectual exercise separate from lived experience and community accountability.