Oppression of the lower and middle classes by the wealthy upper class is the fundamental theme in Freire’s book. In an oppressive society, the dominant elite economically exploit the lower social class, profiting from their labor while confining them to a permanent state of poverty. The conditions of oppression alienate the subjugated group from the product of their labor, from their own culture, and from themselves, leaving them dependent and passive. Freire holds that oppression is an act of violence originating from an unjust social order that suppresses the self-affirmation and volition of the oppressed. At the same time, it is an impermanent and changing historical phenomenon, capable of being overcome by human intervention.

Oppression is an unnatural social condition that contradicts our essential humanity. Our vocation as human beings is to become more fully human, and this requires the exercise of freedom in creating our identity as subjects and in the labor we perform in and upon the world. By denying this opportunity to the oppressed, the social structure of oppression dehumanizes them as well as their oppressors. Oppression operates systematically throughout society, inducing false consciousness in the oppressed and their oppressors, which serves to sustain the dominance of the latter group.