Your post on muggleborn discrimination honestly opened my eyes and predictably I don’t see the general fandom (or maybe just the marauder fandom) being receptive to this idea because it sort of challenges a lot of what Rowling was trying to set up with her shallow ideas of politics and systems of oppression.
I think it’s really interesting how muggleborns are sort of considered “the most oppressed group” within Harry Potter (especially by certain fandoms) when clearly they are not, giants seemed to have been through a sort of genocide in Europe, elves are literally enslaved, werewolves aren’t allowed within “normal society” and every other non human being is treated along these lines. But once they started targeting muggleborns, well they’ve gone too far! Those are humans! Sure they don’t have the same magical parents that we do, but it’s not like they’re goblins or anything! And this attitude is so present within the series it really makes you question the order and whether or not you can really call them “progressives” “who fight for what’s right” (note the apathy towards all non human beings shown by the members except maybe Hermione, whose extra goals of furthering the rights of these beings is looked down upon. Also note Bill Weasleys odd comments about goblins in deathly hallows)
anyways I like to think there was another group of progressives in hp that weren’t the order, filled with working class people, squibs, werewolves, goblins, elves, etc. that would operated in a different way. they weren’t just trying to end Voldemort or fight in combat but build community, give aid to those who needed it, and protect each other. Idk at this point I’m just very disillusioned with the whole “the order is a radical group of progressives” especially as it’s usually coming from marauders fans who most likely have never had any experience with any radical groups of progressives, they just like the idea and aesthetic. The order really was a group of elites, (with a few tokens that were treated as such) that’s one purpose was to win a war, nothing more, nothing less.
Sorry for coming here quite late, but this ask was so interesting and allow me for make a huge meta about this topic and i didn't have so much time this week so i was waiting for have a time to answer properly.
Well, this is gonna be long because THIS IS THE MAIN FUCKING TOPIC.
In the wizarding world, there are clearly two main categories: humans and non-humans. Humans are considered political subjects with rights because when we talk about beings who are not discriminated against, we’re not really talking about “people” in the general sense, but about political subjects. If you're not a political subject, you're not seen as a person because in order to be recognized as a person within a society, you must have political rights and be treated as a subject, not an object.
This is why the political recognition of women and racialized people as subjects with individual rights has been so historically significant. Before they were granted those rights, they weren’t considered people: they were property. Women belonged to their husbands, fathers, or brothers, and racialized people were literally the property of their enslavers. It’s crucial to clarify this, because when we say “people,” we often assume it includes the general population, without understanding that from a sociopolitical perspective, only those recognized as political subjects are truly considered people. Everyone else exists in subordination to them.
With that said, in the wizarding world, the only beings considered political subjects with rights are humans. Non-humans are not. They’re seen as inferior beings. They have no right to study in the same magical schools as humans, no right to hold high positions within the institutions that shape society (like the Ministry), and in some cases, they don’t even have the right to autonomy over their own lives. And we’re talking about beings who are canonically shown to be cognitively capable whose only “flaw” is not being human.
This also applies to semi-human beings like werewolves, who aren’t considered full political subjects either. The only way they can access any of the rights humans enjoy is by hiding what they are. If they don’t, they can’t even legally hold a job.
Now, even among humans—excluding the semi-human category for the reasons stated above—there is a clear system of internal discrimination. You have humans with magic and humans without magic. And only those with magic are considered political subjects in the magical world. If you’re a human without magic, you may be regarded as marginally above goblins, house-elves, or centaurs but you're still beneath magical humans. You have no right to the same freedoms, and you have absolutely no voice in the political, social, or legal decisions made in the wizarding world.
Take squibs, for example. They’re born into magical families, but are pushed to the margins of magical society simply for lacking powers. They’re denied the right to attend the same schools as magical children, denied the ability to influence magical governance, and denied recognition as full participants in the society they were born and raised in. Their exclusion starts with being denied access to magical education, a critical first step in institutional exclusion.
And then there are muggles. Muggles not only lack rights within the magical world: they don’t even have the right to know it exists. And yet, wizards feel completely entitled to intervene in their lives and make profound decisions on their behalf like erasing their memories. Wizards hold muggles in such low regard, they see them as third-class beings whose minds they can freely tamper with.
Even Hermione, one of the supposed paragons of morality, erases her parents’ memories without asking them, and the story presents it as an act of kindness, responsibility, even love. But it’s not. It’s a violation of the most fundamental human right: the right to own your life and make your own decisions. Wizards couldn’t care less: they trample over that right with no remorse.
So, at this point, we have several castes:
Lowest caste: All non-human beings, treated like animals, sometimes as slaves, sometimes as mere creatures to be kept at a distance.
Slightly above them: Semi-human beings. Still treated like beasts, just with more evolved minds.
Second-class citizens: Non-magical humans, where squibs rank slightly above muggles (at least squibs know about magic and can prepare for it).
Highest caste: Humans with magical powers. This is the elite: the privileged class. They have access to education, employment, political voice, ownership of property, and even the right to hold others—sentient beings—as slaves. And this includes all magical humans, regardless of blood status.
There is no point in the timeline—before Voldemort takes over—where magical humans of different blood statuses don't have the same rights. Muggle-borns have the same access to education, healthcare, government jobs, private property, and business opportunities as pure-bloods. Nothing in canon suggests that a muggle-born couldn’t own a house-elf, for example. Muggle-borns are granted the full legal and social privileges of the magical elite.
So what’s the real problem muggle-borns face? Where’s the actual discrimination? The only issue is that there's a conservative, extremist minority that wants to push this already privileged group out of the elite. That’s it. And yes, that’s awful, but let’s be real: Harry, who’s half-blood, inherits Kreacher, a sentient being. Harry owns a slave. Just like Hermione could have. And nobody bats an eye. So are we seriously going to equate the plight of muggle-borns with that of racialized people in the U.S.? Or compare Death Eaters to the KKK? Are we really going to draw parallels to the historical persecution of Jewish communities or apartheid? Because that is politically and academically inaccurate. There’s no basis for that.
Muggle-borns, like half-bloods and pure-bloods, are full political subjects, the top tier in a deeply unjust hierarchy that excludes the vast majority of other sentient, cognitively evolved beings in the magical world. So, honestly, everything that happens in the series is just internal warfare between privileged people fighting within their own elite bubble. Yes, horrible things happen, but being a goblin, a house-elf, or a centaur in that world is far worse. Being a Muggle is worse, having your memory wiped without consent, being used, manipulated, and treated like you're expendable is worse.
So no, I don't buy into the idea that muggle-borns are the most oppressed group in the wizarding world. That’s simply not true. From a social and political standpoint, they’re not. They’re part of the most privileged class, the only group that has full political and legal rights. The only ones who are truly free. Everyone else exists under their control.
