PRESENTED BY MARC SETTEMBRINOINTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY

SPRING 2009

White Privilege:Unpacking the Invisible

Knapsack

Goals

Define & Discuss Discrimination

Define & Discuss Privilege

Examine the results of Privilege &

Discrimination

Identify Privilege Systems

What is Discrimination?

Discrimination is any action or behavior that results in the unequal treatment of individuals because of their membership in a certain group (race, ethnicity, gender etc.)

Two types of discrimination Individual Discrimination – when one person treats

others unfairly because of their race or ethnicity. Institutional Discrimination – more systematic and

wide spread, when institutions practice discriminatory policies that affect whole groups of people.

Institutional Discrimination

What do you think of when you hear the word “institution”?

Can you give examples of institutions?

Can Race be an institution?

Has Racism become institutionalized?

White Privilege

Peggy McIntosh trying to understand Male Privilege became aware of her own White Privilege “As a white person, I realized that I had been taught

about racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage, but had been NOT taught to see one of its corollary aspect, white privilege, which puts me at an unfair advantage…”

Privilege is when one group is advantaged by the discrimination or unfair treatment of another group.

White privilege is the unfair advantage whites have compared to racial minorities.

The Unconscious Nature of Privilege

Most people are UNAWARE of their privilege

McIntosh writes: “My schooling gave me no training in seeing myself as

an oppressor, as an unfairly advantaged person, or as a participant in a damaged culture.”

Examples of White Privilege

“I can turn on the TV or open the newspaper and see people of my race widely and positively represented.”

Examples of White Privilege

“When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization” I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.”

Examples of White Privilege

“I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.”

Examples of White Privilege

“I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children’s magazines featuring people of my race.”

Conclusions from McIntosh

White Privilege makes whites confident, comfortable, and obvious; other groups are likely being made unconfident, uncomfortable and alienated.

Privilege simply confers dominance, gives permission to control, because of one’s race or sex.

Conclusions from McIntosh

Oppression takes both active forms that we can see and embedded forms that members of the dominant group are taught not to see.

We are taught to think that discrimination is carried out only through intentional, individual acts of discrimination, or cruelty, rather than invisible systems conferring unsought dominance on certain groups.

What are the effects of Privilege/Discrimination?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk_x7s3QiYk

What are some other Privilege systems?

McIntosh identifies:

Male Privilege

White Privilege

Heterosexual Privilege

Examples of other forms of Privilege?