The Master suppression techniques were a framework articulated in the late 1970s by the Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 social psychologist

Social psychology

Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. By this definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors include all...

 Berit Ås

Berit Ås

Berit Ås is a Norwegian politician, professor of social psychology, and feminist. She was the first leader of the Socialist Left Party and served as a Member of Parliament 1973–1977. She was also a deputy member of parliament 1969–1973  and 1977–1981...

 to describe five means by which, according to her, women are subjugated to in supposedly patriarchical

Patriarchy

Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...

 Western societies. Master suppression techniques are said to be strategies of social manipulation

Crowd manipulation

Crowd manipulation is the intentional use of techniques based on the principles of crowd psychology to engage, control, or influence the desires of a crowd in order to direct its behavior toward a specific action. This practice is common to politics and business and can facilitate the approval or...

 by which a dominant group maintains such a position in a (established or unexposed) hierarchy

Hierarchy

A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another...

. They are very prominent in Scandinavian scholarly and public debate, where the expression is also used to refer to types of social manipulation not part of Ås's framework.
Master suppression techniques are sometimes called domination techniques.

Making invisible

To silence or otherwise marginalize persons in opposition by ignoring them.

Examples:

• Another speaker takes something you have said as if it was an idea of their own, or starts speaking despite it being your turn.
• As it is your turn to speak, the other attendees start to talk to each other, browse through their papers, etc.

Ridicule

In a manipulative way to portray the arguments of, or their opponents themselves, in a ridiculing

Appeal to ridicule

Appeal to ridicule, also called appeal to mockery, the Horse Laugh, or reductio ad ridiculum , is a logical fallacy which presents the opponent's argument in a way that appears ridiculous, often to the extent of creating a straw man of the actual argument, rather than addressing the argument itself...

 fashion.

Example:

• Another speaker laughs at your accent and compares you to a character in a humorous TV show (although you had something important to say).
• When making an accusation of wrongdoing against someone, you are being told that you look cute when you're angry.

Withhold information

To exclude a person from the decision making process, or knowingly not forwarding information so as to make the person less able to make an informed choice.

Examples:

• Your colleagues have a meeting that concerns you, without inviting you.
• Decisions are made not in a conference where everyone is present, but at a dinner party later in the evening, where only some attendants have been invited.

Double bind

To punish or otherwise belittle the actions of a person, regardless of how they act.

Examples:

• When you do your work tasks thoroughly, you receive complaints for being too slow. When you do them efficiently, you're critiqued for being sloppy.
• A man is critiqued for not helping out with domestic work, but is called unmanly when doing so.

Heap blame/put to shame

To embarrass someone, or to insinuate that they are themselves to blame for their position.

Example:

• You inform your manager that you are being slandered, but are told it is your fault since you dress provokingly.

Objectifying

To discuss the appearance of one or several persons in a situation where it is irrelevant.

Force/threat of force

To threaten with or use one's physical strength towards one or several persons.

Example:

• "One more word from you and I'll smash your face!"

External links

• Berit Ås: Master Suppression Techniques