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HUMANE MYTH
GLOSSARY:
Privilege of domination



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 HUMANE MYTH GLOSSARY
Abolition
Animal advocacy
Animal husbandry
Animal protection
Animal rights
Animal welfare
Animal welfare industrial complex
Animal-using industries
Co-option
Commodification
Conflict of Interest
Conscience
Conscientious objection
Critical thinking
Cruelty-free
Disillusionment
Doctrine of necessary evil
Happy Meat
Hogwashing
Humane myth
Humane slaughter
Neocarnism
Non-participation and Non-cooperation
Non-violent social change
Open Rescue
Path of Conscience
Plant-based diet
Privilege of domination
Speciesism
Suffering
Sustainable
Utilitarianism
Values-based activism
Vegan
 






Privilege of domination

the socially-sanctioned and often even legally-protected prerogative of one group to exert arbitrary control over members of another group, often in the context of some widespread form of exploitation. This term helps distinguish those forms of domination that are socially deviant, such as kidnapping and confining another citizen, from those that receive broad support. For example, during the era of human slavery in the US, especially in slaveholding states, the utter domination of enslaved people was considered "normal" and was protected under the law. Similarly, the use and killing of animals for many purposes is now legally protected and for the most part socially-accepted, making this situation one of inherent privilege for those in the dominant group. In many cases, the privilege of domination is the gateway to financial gain through exploitation of those being dominated, as in the case of human exploitation of nonhuman animals.