Eventually, people internalize external repression. This becomes internalized oppression. Internalized oppression is when marginalized individuals or groups take on the view of the oppressor, or in this case, the regime, and their behavior leads to further oppression (Prilleltensky & Gonick, 1996). Internalized oppression is how a dictatorship maintains its power most effectively. The subjugation of one group over another is associated with mass trauma (Heberle, Obus, & Gray, 2020).
Internalized oppression is when individuals come to believe their own inferiority and inability to bring about change in a system. Once an individual or a collective internalizes oppression, they come to believe the message an oppressor has been predicating. For example, in the Dominican Republic's dictatorship, individuals were urged to obey idiosyncratic rules such as carrying a voting card for fixed elections, paving the roads as community service, and doing military exercises regardless of age. Defying any of these laws resulted in consequences such as jail time and other harsh or lethal punishments. Individuals who internalized the oppression not only accepted and obeyed these rules but also encouraged others to do the same. In doing so, they supported the dictator even if they did not necessarily agree with his tyranny.