Class Privilege Essay

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Class Privilege & Where You Live My socioeconomic status has influence on where I live. I currently reside in the suburbs, north of Toronto in a relatively white, upper to middle class community. Being located further from the city allows for somewhat affordable housing, but also has subliminal messages of safety and security. My middle class privilege allows me the freedom to be out at night in my neighbourhood without any huge concern for my safety. I have access to medical centres and I don’t fear getting sick as I know I am located close to many health facilities that will take good care of me, for free. I don’t have police constantly stationed in my area. I am not questioned for walking down the street. It is very frequent that an altercation …show more content…

This suggests that race is an intertwining factor of socioeconomic privilege. Understanding that, I can relate this to the way interpersonal oppression plays a role in my community. Interpersonal oppression incorporates the oppressive messages that we absorb from one group to another not of our own (Margles & Margles, 2010). Racism is something that has been taught to us and embedded in our thinking. That than plays out in the way we respond, think and value certain racialized others. When I reflect on this I realize how discriminatory it is to think that my community is safe because of the presence of white people. This distorted lens causes me as a white person to be deprived of the way racialized people can contribute to my society (Margles & Margles, 2010). This subtle form of racism assigns labels on communities and enforces the notion of discrimination. These messages cause us to choose places to live that are deemed as “safe” due to the social identity of the people who reside in …show more content…

By examining this contrast, my eyes have been opened to better understanding the way discrimination is expressed amongst the classes. Lack of equal distribution of resources is one form of discrimination I can identify between the middle class and working/poor class. We can observe a gap between the rich and the poor. That gap is discussed in Mulally’s chapter on “The Web: The Multiplicity, Intersectionality and Heterogeneity of Oppression.” Mulally argues that the members of the poor and working class are limited in their resources and opportunities are not widely available to them in our current economic system (Mulally, 2010). This in turn allows the rich to get access to the opportunities that the poor don’t, simply based on their ability and privileges (access to resources) insinuating that the rich will continue to get richer and the poor will get

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