Title: Center for a Stateless Society » Five Faces of State Oppression
Headings: 
Five Faces of State Oppression
Exploitation
Marginalization
Powerlessness
Violence
Cultural Imperialism
Overcoming State Oppression

Content: The State, therefore, systematically exploits its citizens in the form of expropriation. Without institutionalized theft, the State would not have the means to continue its daily operations. Marginalization
According to Young (1990, p. 8), “Marginals are people the system of labor cannot or will not use.” For much of its history, the State has explicitly excluded marginalized people from citizenship through laws that discriminate against the poor, women, children, racial minorities, and the disabled. Although in the United States many of these laws are gone, the social effects of such laws remain. Groups that have historically been legally excluded from citizenship continue to remain in poverty and are most affected by other forms of oppression (Young, 1990). This is not to say, however, that legal marginalization ceases to exist. The elderly, the poor, and the disabled rely on bureaucratic institutions for aid, while laws prevent unregistered charities from feeding the homeless or offering other services to those in need. The State forces children to stay in schools reminiscent of prison until their later teen years. Children cannot make most legal decisions for themselves without being emancipated.