Oppression and Addiction;
Liberation and Recovery
Welcome to Module One
Welcome to module one of my free course “Understanding the Essential Nature of Systems of Oppression.” In case you missed it, you can watch the introduction to this course here.
Module one is entitled, “Oppression and Addiction; Liberation and Recovery,” and it is made up of the eight videos you can find below. In total, the module will take just over an hour to complete.
You may also be interested in reading a paper I wrote about oppression and addiction in 2022, which you can find here. Some of my ideas related to this concept have evolved since I wrote the paper, but it still essentially captures much of my thinking on the topic.
Please Note:
This module is neither a comprehensive guide for understanding oppression nor addiction. Rather, it is an attempt to identify the essential features of oppression and addiction in order to show that they can be conceived of as the same phenomenon. While understanding this underlying phenomenon is helpful in anti-oppression and recovery work, I want to emphasize that it is far from all that we need. In addition to underlying principles, we also need specialized expertise and loving community for us all to heal and grow from the many different ways that oppression and addiction show up in our lives, relationships, and communities.
If this perspective resonates with you, please be sure to incorporate it only as an important aspect of a larger approach.
Introduction
How did I get connected with the idea that addiction and oppression might be connected?
How is this idea complex?
Why do I want you to carefully consider all of the materials on this webpage before drawing conclusions?
Defining Oppression
How do I define oppression?
Why is the concept of power important to include in our definition of oppression?
How are the terms “oppression” and “systems of oppression” related but different?
What is the essential dynamic that connects the concepts of repression, abuse, oppression, and systems of oppression?
Defining Addiction
The challenges of defining addiction
Various approaches to understanding addiction
Establishing a working definition
The connection between addiction and trauma
A socio-historical approach to addiction
Connections between systems of oppression and addiction
A link to the interview with Gabor Maté I reference
Complexity in Working With Addiction
The four criteria that I use to define addiction / addictive tendencies
The origins of addiction as an adaptive survival strategy
The extremely harmful addictions we’re trained not to see
When addiction becomes a self-replicating process
Defining Addiction
For reference, I wanted to offer you a text version of the criteria I’m using to define addiction. In the videos above I’ve emphasized that I’m not defining addiction by the behavior or substance a person is engaging with - but rather by the relationship the person has developed with that behavior or substance. I see it as entering the realm of addiction or addictive tendency when…
the behavior or substance a person or group craves creates temporary relief or pleasure
the person’s relationship to the behavior or substance ultimately causes physiological, physical, relational, or social harm
the person or group engaged with the addiction struggles to stop, even when they want to
Connections Between Oppression and Addiction
The common phenomenon underlying oppression and addiction
“We are oppressed by our addictions, and we’re addicted to our oppressions.”
Addiction and oppression as a snowball effect
The Way Through
Why do we engage in the oppression/addiction phenomenon?
The phenomenon as an energy transfer
How do we find our way out?
Why we need support to feel our pain
Internal Practice
Why all of us have inner work to do around the addiction/oppression phenomenon
An internal practice that might help you gain more awareness about how and why you engage with addiction/oppression. Please engage with this practice at your own discretion for whether it feels right for you.
Final Thoughts and Implications
What might be the implications / value of this perspective?
What I’m not saying
What to do if you see something that really bothers you in this perspective
Thank you for taking the time with this module
Resources
Below you’ll find a list of resources I’ve relied on most heavily as I’ve developed this content:
Alexander, B. (2010). The Globalization of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirit. OUP Oxford.
Brown, A. M. (2017). Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds. AK Press.
Dayton, T. (2000). Trauma and Addiction: Ending the Cycle of Pain Through Emotional Literacy. Health Communications, Incorporated.
Okun, T. (2022). White Supremacy Culture. White Supremacy Culture. Retrieved June 18, 2024 from www.whitesupremacyculture.info/
May, G. G. (1988). Addiction & Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions. HarperOne.
Mindell, A. (1988). City Shadows: Psychological Interventions In Psychiatry. Lao Tse Press.
Mindell, A. (2014). Sitting in the Fire: Large Group Transformation Using Conflict and Diversity. Deep Democracy Exchange.
Nieto, L. (2010). Beyond Inclusion; Beyond Empowerment: A Developmental Strategy to Liberate Everyone. Cuetzpalin Publishing.
Reinarman, C., & Granfield, R. (Eds.). (2015). Expanding Addiction: Critical Essays. Routledge,Taylor & Francis Group.
Schaef, A. W. (1987). When Society Becomes an Addict. New York: HarperCollins.
Continue With the Course…
If you received value from this course, and you’d like to support my work financially, I accept contributions via Venmo @boutin-james and via PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jamesNboutin.
If you’d like to continue with this course, you can find links to the introduction and other modules below:
Module 3: Quantum Physics and the End of Systems of Oppression (Under development - expected to be released in late July, 2024)
© 2024 james boutin
