The progressive stack technique attempts to counter what its proponents believe is a flaw in traditional representative democracy, where the majority is heard while the minority or non-dominant groups are silenced or ignored.<ref name=penny/> In practice, "dominant or majority culture"groups may be interpreted by progressive stack practitioners to mean wealthy or [[upper class]] people, [[white people]], [[men]], [[heterosexual]] or [[cisgender]] people, [[neurotypical]] people, people without physical or mental [[mendisability|disabilities]], and members of majority [[religion]]s, while non-dominant or minority groups include poor or [[womenworking class]], people who are, [[lesbianpeople of color]], [[gaywomen]], [[bisexualsexual and gender minorities]], [[transgenderneurodivergent]] people, people with physical or [[queer]]mental disabilities, [[peoplemembers of color]]minority religions, and very young or older people.<ref>{{cite news|last=Mott|first=Meg|title=Wicca roots|url=http://www.reformer.com/ci_19286528?source=most_viewed|access-date=11 November 2011|newspaper=[[Brattleboro Reformer]]|date=8 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Quattrochi |first=Gina |title=When the System Itself is the Problem|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120109071714/http://anarchistnews.org/node/19566 |archive-date=9 January 2012|url=https://gaycitynews.com/when-the-system-itself-is-the-problem/ |newspaper=Gay City News |date=November 9, 2011|access-date=February 11, 2022}}</ref>
The "stack" in the [[Occupy movement]] is the list of speakers who are commenting on proposals or asking questions in public meetings. Anyone can request to be added to the stack. In meetings that don't use the progressive stack, people typically speak in the order they were added to the [[queue area|queue]]. In meetings that use the progressive stack, people from non-dominant groups are allowed to speak before people from dominant groups, by [[facilitator]]s, or stack-keepers, urging speakers to "step forward, or step back" based on which racial, age, or gender group they belong to.<ref>{{cite news|last=Seltzer|first=Sarah|title=Where Are the Women at Occupy Wall Street?|url=http://www.truth-out.org/where-are-women-occupy-wall-street/1319895284|access-date=11 November 2011|newspaper=[[The Nation]]|date=29 October 2011}}</ref>
