Privilege refers to certain advantages, rights and immunities given to a select group of individuals (Privilege, Cambridge English Dictionary). It is derived “from (the) Latin (word) privilegium, meaning a law for just one person, and a benefit enjoyed by an individual or group beyond what's available to others” (Privilege - Dictionary Definition). American society has an unwritten system of privileges based on sociological hierarchy, economics and race. This unjust system generates a range of emotions from hopelessness and outrage to the other extreme of entitlement. In the article, “White Privilege on the Streets of Ferguson,” Pastor Marie explores her own connection to being privileged as a white, woman and pastor, and how it affected…
In relation to privilege Cornell west had a lot to say about the state of the United States. The issue that he exemplifies is how powerful and privileged the rich are in comparison to everybody else. Cornell West states how when he was young the 1% held 20% of the wealth, but now that number has dramatically to an astounding 40%. He places rich white people in general as the privileged class at fault of keeping the little guy down. We have talked about privilege in class, and how some individuals have advantage over others, in this case because of wealth.…
Counter to the following source, this article addresses how humans can achieve a better understanding of equality through reason and understanding over emotion. McIntosh, Peggy. “White Privilege: The Invisible Knapsack.” From Inquiry to Academic Writing. Ed.…
In his lecture "The Pathology of White Privilege", Tim Wise presents the idea of white privilege, explains its origins, and how it can be eliminated. He begins by talking about the issues of racism, discrimination, and white privilege that have been increasing rapidly, but the awareness of it is rather absent in politics and culture. According to him, these issues in the past have been frequently worshipped by many politicians in a negative manner to neglect the class issues and to gain power in certain fields. Nowadays, many political candidates in the United States talk about many issues such as poverty, housing, education, and healthcare, but rarely talk…
How can two of the most controversial factors, racial discrimination and gender inequality, become overlooked when talking about class in America? Chris Arnade, author of “Why Trump Voters Are Not Complete Idiots,” explains why rural America supports Trump’s presidency. He continues to talk about how America is segregated between elites and common citizens. In addition, he states that what determines an elite is based on culture, social status, education, and way of living. Even though Arnade states great points that elaborate on what determines one’s class, he never acknowledges the idea that gender and race are factors that determine elitism.…
Oppression can be defined in many ways. The merriam-webster dictionary defines oppression as unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power. A deeper definition of oppression was provided by Marilyn Frye in the reading “Oppression.” Frye defines oppression as the experience of being caged in; all avenues, in every direction, are blocked or booby trapped (Frye, 1983). Race, class, gender, and sexuality systems are all systems of oppression that will be identified in this paper.…
“White” Like Me At the heart of American culture is the concept of racism; a continuous cycle perpetuated through years of injustice by slavery, violence, segregation, and hatred. Much like the symbolic “tree of life”, racism’s roots extend deep into the earth, drawing sustenance from each member of society. Yet in that survival tactic, it unconsciously steals a little more from one side—this is white privilege. “White privilege” is a mere social construction by which the dominant white group justifies their advantages and higher quality of life through diminution of people of color. To be a member of the white race, it is easy to overlook subtle inequalities—such as the wealth gap, career opportunities, education, etc.…
It is no coincidence that Vandana Shiva’s essay, “Our Violent Economy is Hurting Women,” and Dave Zirin’s article, “The Verdict: Steubenville Shows the Bond between Jock Culture and Rape Culture” both open with cases of brutalized women. It is such a norm that this act is the central focus of the popular television show Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, but that comparison only draws to mind how not “special” violence against women is, and begs the question why it is so entertaining that SVU can have marathons simultaneously on several different channels. The answer perhaps can be found in the system that markets SVU as entertainment, the neoliberal capitalist economic system that commodifies this violence against women, women as a whole,…
White Advantage In the article “White privilege to a broke white person” by Gina Crosley-Corcoran she argues how being white in society did not make her advantaged in society by stating her own personal experiences. White privilege is recognized amongst white individuals and many have been taught not to recognize it for what it is but not every white person gets the same glamorous lifestyle. Being white is just a color that does not define the future for someone. White privilege is viewed in different perspectives amongst different backgrounds.…
In American society today we are taught to see social constructs such as gender, sexuality, race, and class as something that puts people at a disadvantage; in doing this, we often fail to recognize the areas in which we are privileged. It is important to understand that we are all privileged in certain ways. Simply being able-bodied in an ableist society or thin in a fat-shaming society grants members of those groups privilege. In this regard, white privilege is the privilege a person gets by being a white person in a white-dominant society. It does not have to do with any one individual, what they do or who they are, only the fact that they are white.…
An Ever Changing Country Although it has been decades since slavery ended, racism is still a profound controversy in the United States today. Charles Blow describes some of these levels of racism and its effects on people in the United States in his article “White America’s ‘Broken Heart’”. The article, as can be deciphered by the title, is about how white Americans today are handling the changing situations of equality in the United States. Blow published this article February 4, 2016, on The New York Times’ Opinion Pages on their website. Many Americans assume that racism is almost completely gone in today’s society, but Blow believes that it still lingers and is affecting the health of Caucasians in America.…
White privilege exists in almost every function of daily life from education, housing, finances, and even healthcare. Education, no child left behind, a right for all American youth, none of these things advertise that the best educators are saved for the white students. Mortgage lenders request that the “race” box be checked, only to discriminate, offering higher interest rates to minorities, and approving loans only in “minority” neighborhoods, usually those with lower property values consisting of low quality education, high crime and poor environmental awareness. In these lower class neighborhoods, quality healthcare is unavailable or severely inconvenient, while the white neighborhoods enjoy highly educated doctors, hospitals and clinics at every corner. Somewhere in our cultural unconscious lies the image of the brutal, animalistic, sexual savage.…
In “Border Crossings,” Renato Rosaldo states that all peoples have culture and that “each human culture is so unique that no yardstick can measure one against another.” (Rosaldo 196) But in society, the most powerful group usually have the privilege of classifying themselves as a-cultural or post-cultural. They are blind to their own culture and therefore see themselves as the “norm.” Rosaldo argues that by labeling one group as the “norm” and another group as more cultural it perpetuates the idea that “if “they” have explicit monopoly on authentic culture, "we" have an unspoken one on institutional power .”…
In addition, Mantsios reveals, “issues of race and gender cut across class lines,” which then explains that people of different ethnic backgrounds and genders are going to be affected by income inequality even more than other groups of people. In comparison, “Beyond the Outrage” is focused on any member of working class in the United States. For instance, Reich acknowledges, “the pay of most Americans is not returning―and that is the longer-term and more disturbing story,” and that is something all Americans have in common; the desire to have a job. Lastly, in “From a Tangle of Pathology to a Race-Fair America”, the focus is on minorities in the country because of the statistics and facts utilized.…
Introduction Transformative design is described by Creswell and Plano Clark (2007), as providing a “theoretical perspective to help address injustices o bring about change for an underrepresented or marginalize group” (p. 194). The feminist research Telling It All: A Story of Women's Social Capital Using a Mixed Methods Approach conducted by Hodgkin’s (2008), attempts to explain the concept of social capital and the varying differences that it has on men and women. The research “sought to explore the different patterns of participation based on gender, and second, to explore how the role of “mother” alters both the activities women become involved in and the reason for this” (p. 373). The quantitative aspect of this transformative paradigm…