Quotes from Patricia Hill Collins

as social conditions change, so must the knowledge and practices designed to resist them

Oppression describes any unjust situation where, systematically and over a long period of time, one group denies another group access to the resources of society.

The mind of the man and the mind of the woman is the same, but this business of living makes women use their minds in ways that men don't even have to think about.

Suppressing the knowledge produced by any oppressed group makes it easier for dominant groups to rule because the seeming absence of dissent suggests that subordinate groups willingly collaborate in their own victimization.

One key reason that standpoints of oppressed groups are suppressed is that self-defined standpoints can stimulate resistance.

Theory of all types is often presented as being so abstract that it can be appreciated only by a select few. Though often highly satisfying to academics, this definition excludes those who do not speak the language of elites and thus reinforces social relations of domination.

An oppressed group's experiences may put its members in a position to see things differently, but their lack of control over the ideological apparatuses of society makes expressing a self-defined standpoint more difficult.

Social theories expressed by women emerging from these diverse groups typically do not arise from the rarefied atmosphere of their imaginations. Instead, social theories reflect women's efforts to come to terms with lived experiences within intersecting oppressions of race, class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nation, and religion.

Knowledge without wisdom is adequate for the powerful, but wisdom is essential for the survival of the subordinate.

Suppressing the knowledge produced by any oppressed group makes it easier for dominant groups to rule because the seeming absence of dissent suggests that subordinate groups willingly collaborate in their own victimization. Maintaining the invisibility of Black women and our ideas not only in the United States, but in Africa, the Caribbean, South America, Europe, and other places where Black women now live, has been critical in maintaining social inequalities.