Concept of Privilege
"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." (Friedrich Nietzsche) I think this quote hits home on what privilege means to people. Weather you believe it everybody has different privileges in a way, however some people have more than others which to me is not right at all. I think everyone in this world should be treating fairly no matter who they are, race, gender, religion, etc. You should not be treated with more respect or highly just because you are a different color for example. I’ve come to realize that a lot of people judge others before
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Privilege is according to Dictionary.com a right or immunity granted to a certain group of people. Well I was privileged enough to have a chance to take this class and I think it has given me a whole new outlook on privilege. I have learned quit bit from this class that I would have never learned if I would not have taken it. When I think about privilege I kind of over looked it myself until seeing how so many people were treated so poorly just because they were different in some way. This is my last semester at Nicolet and I wanted to try new things that I never did before and discover something new because the last thing I want to be is like everyone else. It makes me angry seeing all the terrible things that happen to people that did not do anything wrong. I also think it’s important to learn about lots of different cultures because it really shows you how other people grew up and …show more content…
You will be less likely to get an arrest then a different color group. According to “Study: Whites More Likely to Abuse Drugs Than Blacks” it states that colored people are ten times more likely to get arrested for drugs when in reality colored people are less likely to use drugs. Then there’s more white people getting excepted into University’s which is totally racist. According to “Report: Higher Education Creates 'White Racial Privilege '” it states that it mimics the same way that regular schools operate we inequality in there school systems. You would most likely get a job then a colored person. According to the “Black Unemployment Driven By White America 's Favors For Friends” it states that white people don’t like hiring colored people because they are not around them or give it to people they a society themselves with. To me that’s wrong but that that could also be many other reasons why they don’t hire you. Another huge privilege was housing there was a time where colored people were not give the same right of buying a house a white from what I learn from the video that was shown in
Having privileges gives out respect to those who earned it for you, as explained in the article, “Checking My Privileges”, by Tal Fortgang. Privileges are not for people who deserve them but instead it is for people who are lucky enough to have them passed onto them. Tao explains how she was handed her privileges from the hard work of her grandparents and the accomplishments of their struggling journey to give their granddaughter the privileges she has today to be thankful for. Society judges one another based on their sexuality, and color of their skin, you may judge others of the same basis without knowing the story of how they have received their privileges, because by looking at how a person looks will not give you their background story of them or their
Privileges are things that a person receives that gives them an advantage over most people (Merriam-Webster). These are benefits that only certain people receive for being in a certain group or discourse. Peggy McIntosh, director of the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, wrote “White Privilege and Male Privilege” and states “I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privileges, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege” (605). She argues that whites and males receive certain privileges, yet they do not even notice them. This shows that different races and women are still put at a disadvantage, but the people who receive the benefits are blind to the problem. Many people will argue that she is correct while some others will explain why this not is the case.
White privilege is a concept that many people are unfamiliar with, but not because they do not benefit from it. In the paper “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh argues that white people have an advantage over those of other races, though most are completely unaware of it or simply take it for granted. Her recognition of white privilege came from the concept of male privilege. She says that she looked at that concept and realized there was certainly something similar to it in regards to race (McIntosh, 1988, 11). This paper has great importance to the function of society. Because many white people do not recognize their unfair and disproportionate advantage in society, racial tensions can rise even more because there is a major wall blocking people from fixing the current issues.
People are all different, different races, genders, social classes, and sexualities. These natural differences make people feel awkward and no one wants to feel awkward. Difference is “socially” constructed because society creates different gender rules, roles that you should take on, and behaviors depending if you are a man or women. Two types of privilege can be white privilege. White privilege means you get more benefits and have way more benefit of the doubt compared to other races. Heterosexual privilege is where you are more of a “man” than if you would be homosexual. You are both men but being heterosexual you are perceived as more manly. Both of these are unearned privileges, they come with the race and sexuality you are. What is the significance of understand the privilege in relation to solving “the trouble” we
Have you ever heard of the term white privilege? In case you haven’t, or if you’re not sure what it is exactly, white privilege is all of the societal privileges that benefit white people and that non-white people do not experience. If you are white, your first thought might be to say, “Well, that’s not real. I don’t experience any special benefits that non-white people do not.” But it is real and you do. When you get a paper cut and you go to grab one of your “flesh colored” bandages, it will actually match your skin color because apparently light beige is the “normal” skin color for everyone. When you are watching a film, you are able to relate more to the people you are watching because you will share the same characteristics as most of them, such as having the same skin color. (It’s true. A recent study showed that, out of 100 films made in 2012, white people accounted for about 76% of all speaking characters while people of color, put together, only accounted for about 23%.) When you fail at something in life, like getting a job or getting into college, you don’t stop and think, “Is it because of my race?” White privilege isn’t something that you enjoy having, or that you can necessarily control, but it is important to understand what white privilege is because it most definitely comes into play in our everyday life, including, and especially, news and other forms of media.
White privilege is a benefit that society gives to a white person. It is embedded in and supported by institutions, where it overtly manifests and reproduces as inequality (Cox & Taua, 2016, p. 48). This translates into preferential treatment for white coloured individuals. Such injustice results in the oppression of those who are not white, leading to unequal access to education, healthcare, housing, and employment (Gorski, 2003, p. 9).
To completely understand white privilege you first need to understand what white privilege is. White privilege is defined as a set of advantages and/or immunities that white people benefit from on a daily basis beyond those common to all others. White privilege can exist without white people 's conscious knowledge of its presence and it helps to maintain the racial hierarchy in this country.(mtholyoke.edu) There are many examples of white privilege. They range from people’s thoughts to people 's court cases, to actions. Basically to sum that up you have more privileges and fewer assumptions get made because you 're white. These privileges are not a conscious bias and do not make the person a racist.
Black people are paid almost half of what white people are paid, which forces them to live in low income communities which tend to be unsafe, and also put their whole family in danger. Due to their low income, they might not be able to afford health care which causes them to “lose more work because of illness, have more carious teeth, lose more babies as a result of both miscarriage and infant death…” according to William Ryan from Blaming the Victim page 648. People who have low income due to the wage gap tend not to be able to afford college compared to white people, which hinders their future and their ability to succeed. In fact, on page 214 in Shades of Belonging: Latinos and Racial Identity, Sonia Tafoya states “Hispanics who identified themselves as white have higher levels of education and income and greater degrees of civic enfranchisement than those who pick some other race category.” This shows how minorities are mistreated in society unlike white people. In the end, it doesn’t matter what your abilities are because if you are not white you are not treated equally. “If you’re not white, you’re black,” (141 Sethi). Anyone who is not white in the United States are seen as inferior. If you’re not white, you 're not treated as an equal. Non-whites are judged based on their appearance and are made fun of due to their accents. Numerous non-whites are harassed and are told “you are in America, learn how to speak English!” When in fact, there is no official language of the United States. According to Sonia Shah in Asian American? on page 217, Asians are paid less in the workforce even when they have the same level of education as whites. Regardless of whether non-whites receive the same education level as whites, they are still not equal, not even in the work
The prevalence of white privilege had not occurred to me previously, but after reading White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack I have a better understanding of the impact my privilege has on myself and others. I also started to realize that this privilege can not only cause emotional distress for people, but also prevent them from achieving success. For instance, privilege can cause people from wealthier areas to receive more money for their school compared with those from poorer areas. This does not only impact the student by affecting the quality of their education, but also makes it harder for these students to rise above the poverty
The social theory of privilege states that unearned or otherwise reasonably unacquirable advantages are social endowed to a particular person or group of people. These unearned advantages are often granted on the basis of demographic features such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or generation, although other criteria (such as ability, height, or attractiveness) may confer such advantages. There lie subtle distinctions between advantages that are earned but reasonably acquirable and advantages that are earned but reasonably unacquirable. For example, education confers social advantages, but not privilege; however, the access to education is a reasonably unacquirable advantage and would be considered a privilege. The ambiguity of privilege, though,
1. (a) Privilege is defined as a favor or right granted to some people, but not to everyone.
We need to be aware of the diversity in the classroom. Cultural diversity includes: bi-racial, adoptive, immigrant, gay, and step-families. It is a large majority of the students today even in my generation. Focusing on making a balanced curriculum that exposes the students to all of these different backgrounds is very important. I know that it is likely that a teacher will not be able to cater to every student, but it is important to involve each of them. There is a large percentage of students that have dropped out due to the lack of having a connection with the curriculum. It is frustrating that we are lacking progress in our schools to help these children connect when studies show that each cultural group will soon be equal in numbers. We need to form a better
When I think of what privilege is, I see it as being individuals who are able to benefit from society without the barriers of race, gender, or sexuality. All of these privileges have different outcomes and some of them can go hand and hand with each other. For example, when I think of privilege people who have a privilege in the workforce, or in society as a whole, I think of a white male in America who is treated better than a female who is a minority. White males are stigmatized as people who are usually hard working and respectful, while a female minority might be seen as lazy and irresponsible. For people who are open with their sexuality most people in this nation see them as an abomination. Being seen as your race, gender or sexuality
One of my favorite examples of privilege is the third eye story (= , Ch 5). This is a story about a person who live in a safe and loving community then goes to a new place where everyone looks at him weirdly and talks about him behind his back, eventually, he realizes that everyone has a third eye. He feels ashamed for not having a third eye and tries to hide his “disability” by buying sunglasses; however, when he goes to them, he is ridiculed and taken to when the two eyed glasses are. People offer to fix him by giving him a risky surgery. He goes to a play where he is giving a white can and the pamphlet only caters to people with a third eye. The play is about a community similar to the one the person lived in but this was depressing and sad. After the play ends, the two eyed person feels ashamed and ugly (= , Ch 5).This story shows the internal and attitudinal effects of privilege. Unfortunately, this at time may be how some able-bodied people affect disabled people. Many able- bodied people believe that they have the right to their position as a dominant group. Due to the fact that they work hard and are smart, therefore, they should
It is there and always will be. It does not matter the race, gender, or lifestyle. I do not believe I understood it correctly with the authors approach in the book. Therefore, the TED Talk really helped me not see privilege as positive or negative, it just is. Justin Ford did an excellent job delivering a more clear explanation of privilege for me. In every culture and with every group of people I believe it exists. If you have humans you will have privilege of some nature. I do believe that you can be privileged and unprivileged at the same time. This is where it gets complicated and I now see it differently. In the previous chapter I probably acted defensive because I did feel or see that you can have privilege and be unprivileged also. This chapter and especially the video clarified this and neutralized my attitude. I am still not sure why we use that word when it tends to polarize people and actually emphasize what we are trying to diminish.