What is privilege

Please contact us at contact globalcitizen. I am a social worker. By virtue of the work I do, I think a lot about privilege. I have had many "aha" movements that have helped me to understand my own privilege in relation to the clients I am serving and the world at large.

My profession puts me in the position of assisting individuals who are in need of resources, and who are often facing economic, educational, and environmental conditions different than my own. Further, when assigned a new case, I immediately hold a degree of authority over the client. Social workers are gatekeepers to resources that an individual needs - and are often unable to access without assistance.

Thinking about privilege and challenging it is an ongoing exercise. I am constantly learning to challenge my position in the world, and understand the power imbalances that I am a part of. With friends, I sometimes will bring up the subject of privilege not in a preachy way, I swear! Case in point: At a dinner with a friend to who works on Wall Street, I began discussing a recent New York Times article that looked at how high school students challenged and thought about privilege.

She could be experiencing a lot of things that make her life hard. This comment is the crux of the issue when discussing privilege and how many misunderstand the term. In many ways, I am an expert on the ways my privilege has benefitted me. When I explained this to my friend during our fancy West Village meal, he became defensive. He cited his struggles learning to read, being born into a household with parents who had immigrated from Europe, and being in debt from school as reasons that he should not be assumed to be privileged.

While he did reference the disadvantages that women and minorities experience, he would not identify with the label of privilege. In my experience, his level of defensiveness is not unusual when discussing privilege. Unpacking privilege is hard, though, because many people—who usually fall among the privileged—either get offended or self-flagellate in guilt. When our egos are triggered, our logical brain shuts down, and respectful discourse quickly goes south.

Perhaps if there were an easy, non-accusatory way to illustrate the dynamics of privilege, we could all get on the same page and progress to the more important conversation: how to dismantle privilege and promote equality. As a black, queer woman with no formal education, who built a venture capital fund while homeless , Hamilton knows what it means to be underestimated, overlooked, and straight-up discriminated against—the fundamental consequences of lacking privilege in America.

Most of us, regardless of our race, wealth, gender, or sexuality, can relate to the experience Hamilton describes. If we extend this metaphor, the entire concert community including the performer, venue, and hosting city benefits, because if the taller person steps back so the shorter person can see, both people enjoy the show, both are more likely to rave about it to friends, and subsequently, both are more likely to buy more show tickets and encourage others to do the same.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Miranda, A. Understanding privilege in America. Jones Ed. McIntosh, K. How can we reduce racial disproportionality in school discipline? Tomes, Y. Cross-cultural interactions and understanding. Wildman, S. Language and silence: Making systems of privilege visible. Santa Clara Law Review , 35 3 , — National Association of School Psychologists. Understanding Race and Privilege [handout]. Bethesda, MD: Author. Racism, Prejudice, and Discrimination Position Statement.

Viewpoint: Seeing Privilege in a Different Light. The Role of Privilege For many members of the majority culture i. The Effect of Privilege in Schools In schools, privilege-based bias plays out in many ways but perhaps most acutely in discipline. What provoked you to think about it or acknowledge it? When using social media, how diverse is your feed? How diverse are your friends and followers? How diverse are those that you follow? How diverse is the community in which you live?

How do you feel when you are in a community that is different than your neighborhood? Drawing on sociology, psychology, history, and economics, Seeing White introduces students to the concepts of white privilege and social power. Seeing White is designed to help break down some of the resistance students feel in discussing race.

Each chapter opens with compelling concrete examples to help students approach issues from a range of perspectives. The early chapters build a solid understanding of privilege and power, leading to a critical exploration of discrimination.

Key theoretical perspectives include cultural materialism, critical race theory, and the social construction of race. Each chapter includes discussion questions to help students evaluate institutions and policies that perpetuate or counter forces of privilege and discrimination.

The website www. Introducing Intersectionality by Mary Romero How can we hope to understand social inequality without considering race, class, and gender in tandem? How do they interact with other categories such as sexuality, citizenship, and ableism? How does an inclusive analysis of domination and privilege move us closer to solutions touching the lives of diverse populations?

In this clearly written book, Mary Romero presents intersectionality as a core facet of the sociological imagination. One-dimensional approaches are no longer acceptable. Instead, we must examine all systems of oppression simultaneously and how they integrate and work with or against each other to shape life experiences.

Recognizing the dynamics of patriarchy, capitalism, and white supremacy, Romero shows how social inequality is maintained or minimized in various social settings and everyday sites of interaction. Drawing the theoretical threads together, the book demonstrates intersectional approaches in action in relation to the care crisis and wealth divide, to highlight the different understandings of these issues and their solutions arising from a comprehensive, intersectional examination.

Offering an overview of scholarly and activist tradition in the development of intersectionality and how to apply intersectionality as a lens to enrich our understandings of social life, this introductory text will be an invaluable and welcome resource for all students of sociology.

D Moore Stacks. Deconstructing Privilege: Teaching and Learning as Allies in the Classroom by Kim Case Editor Although scholarly examinations of privilege have increased in recent decades, an emphasis on privilege studies pedagogy remains lacking within institutions.

This edited collection explores best practices for effective teaching and learning about various forms of systemic group privilege such as that based on race, gender, sexuality, religion, and class. Formatted in three easy-to-follow sections, Deconstructing Privilege charts the history of privilege studies and provides intersectional approaches to the topic. Drawing on a wealth of research and real-life accounts, this book gives educators both the theoretical foundations they need to address issues of privilege in the classroom and practical ways to forge new paths for critical dialogues in educational settings.

Combining interdisciplinary contributions from leading experts in the field-- such as Tim Wise and Abby Ferber-- with pedagogical strategies and tips for teaching about privilege, Deconstructing Privilege is an essential book for any educator who wants to address what privilege really means in the classroom. Call Number: LC