Powerarchy: Understanding the Psychology of Oppression for Social Transformation
Written by Melanie Joy
Narrated by Anna Crowe
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Harvard-educated psychologist and best-selling author Melanie Joy exposes the psychology that underlies all forms of oppression and abuse and the belief system that gives rise to this psychology - which she calls powerarchy.
Melanie Joy had long been curious as to why people who were opposed to one or more forms of oppression - such as racism, sexism, speciesism, and so forth - often stayed mired in many others. She also wondered why people who were working toward social justice sometimes engaged in interpersonal dynamics that were unjust. Or why people who valued freedom and democracy might nevertheless vote and act against these values. Where was the disconnect?
In this thought-provoking analysis, Joy explains how we’ve all been deeply conditioned by the invisible system of powerarchy to believe in a hierarchy of moral worth - to view some individuals and groups as either more or less worthy of moral consideration - and to treat them accordingly.
Powerarchy conditions us to engage in power dynamics that violate integrity and harm dignity, and it creates unjust power imbalances among social groups and between individuals. Joy describes how powerarchies - both social and interpersonal - perpetuate themselves through cognitive distortions, such as denial and justification; narratives that reinforce the belief in a hierarchy of moral worth; and privileges that are granted to some and not others. She also provides tools for transformation.
By illuminating powerarchy and the psychology it creates, Joy helps us to work more fully toward transformation for ourselves, others, and our world.
Related to Powerarchy
Related audiobooks
Speciesism: Why It Is Wrong and the Implications of Rejecting It Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Vystopia: the anguish of being vegan in a non-vegan world Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Myths of Choice: Why people won't change and what you can do about it Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hatred: Understanding Our Most Dangerous Emotion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Our Search for Belonging: How Our Need to Connect Is Tearing Us Apart Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Radical Belonging: How to Survive and Thrive in an Unjust World (While Transforming it for the Better) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Opposite of Rape Culture is Nurturance Culture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Sexual Citizenship: How to Create a (Sexually) Safer World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDemocracy and Social Ethics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGetting Relationships Right: How to Build Resilience and Thrive in Life, Love, and Work Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nonviolence Handbook: A Guide for Practical Action Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Defense of Nuance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Effective Altruism: How Can We Best Help Others? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Compassionate Free Speech Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Genial Gene: Deconstructing Darwinian Selfishness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Humane Economy: How Innovators and Enlightened Consumers are Transforming the Lives of Animals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm Right and You're an Idiot - 2nd Edition: The Toxic State of Public Discourse and How to Clean it Up Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Subtle Acts of Exclusion: How to Understand, Identify, and Stop Microaggressions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Better Boys, Better Men: The New Masculinity That Creates Greater Courage and Emotional Resiliency Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Science Denial: Why It Happens and What to Do About It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Public Option: How to Expand Freedom, Increase Opportunity, and Promote Equality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Revolution Generation: How Millennials Can Save America and the World (Before It's Too Late) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Overcoming Bias: Building Authentic Relationships across Differences Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Politics For You
The 48 Laws of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Behold a Pale Horse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You Can't Joke About That: Why Everything Is Funny, Nothing Is Sacred, and We’re All in This Together Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Razorblade Tears: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Vision of the Anointed: Self-congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You Have the Right to Remain Innocent Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elon Musk Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Small Mercies: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5While Time Remains: A North Korean Girl's Search for Freedom in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The MAGA Diaries: My Surreal Adventures Inside the Right-Wing (And How I Got Out) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romney: A Reckoning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Powerarchy
12 ratings0 reviews