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Oppression operates at various levels, with varying degrees of negativity, and groups respond in markedly different ways. In this paper, the in-between status of the colored South African group is used to illustrate issues of identity and oppression under the Apartheid system—and differing ways in which oppression was experienced and used. The colored group had many social advantages over Blacks, but were also used to oppress that group. Habituation, accommodation, and relative advantage were identified as dynamics within the broader context of power and privilege that contributed to cultural and psychological marginality and status ambivalence of the coloreds. These processes must be understood within the historical, social, and political context of the community. What is evident from the data is that groups and individuals can take up various positions along a continuum of oppressor-oppressed, depending upon the contexts, time, and social and legal relationships involved in their interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

McMillan and Chavis' (1986) psychological sense of community (NC) model was used to build a profile of a politically constructed group. Twenty-three people, who were classified as Coloured in South Africa, now residing in Melbourne, Australia were interviewed with an instrument to assess PSC. The data indicated that the model presented two dimensions for this group. The first dimension reflected the externally constructed and imposed definitions of group membership under the apartheid laws. The second dimension related to the ways in which the people socially constructed notions of community within their subgroup. Results also showed chat the people rejected the imposed Label of "Coloured," but they still internalized some of the negative stereotypes associated with the label and status. The people also internalized positive experiences of support and group membership that developed within the enforced groupings. It is suggested that the PSC model provides a useful tool for investigating group-specific meanings and understandings of community. It is argued that a NC facilitates experiences of belonging security, and relatedness, while NC, in turn, facilitates adaptation to new contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]