The use of power or coercion whether violent or nonviolent to constrain another's freedom, to violate another's rights, to exploit another, or to deny another's claims to justice. Oppression is clearly at work whenever anyone believes himself to be better than another person by virtue of his membership in a self-styled superior group.
Obvious examples of oppression are the oppression of black people by whites, minorities by majorities, poor people by rich people and women by men. Less obvious examples include the oppression of physically handicapped people in an environment designed only for the able-bodied, the oppression of children in an adult-centred world, and the oppression of people who live on their own in a society where the family is the norm.
Individuals and groups are superior to other individuals and groups. Some people are more intelligent, wealthy, politically discerning, morally upright, sensitive to the needs of others, artistic, educated, disciplined and many many other things. The simple existence of these qualities does not make an oppressive situation and if it does, oppression has little meaning.