Entitlement Mentality

When Johnson discusses “privilege as paradox,” he means that those who are granted privileges has nothing to do with who they are as individuals but with the groups or social categories that are associated with. In other words, people who are considered to have privilege just have convinced others that they belong in that particular category. For example, a white person is considered to be privileged not because of his inner feelings and thoughts but because of what people portray on the outside (being white) and therefore is categorized into the white privilege group. Overall, “privilege as paradox” is a social arrangement that depends on how people categorize and perceive others. Johnson also discusses how privilege does not always make you

Those people who are being oppressed are those people who are part of an oppressed group of people. People in a privilege group don’t feel good about knowing this because there are times that they will feel oppressive. Oppression can make privilege people feel different about doing something the correct way. There are other factors that privilege people might experience oppression. Some of this factors not always because of the reasons that where pointed out in which are known as privileges. For the overall, oppression is commonly seen as a behavior that an oppressive group of people has over a different group of people that is not “privilege”

In “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh argues that racism can be found imbedded into the culture of society; conferring and denying certain privileges on some rather than all. This is a dangerous cultivation; endowing a strong expectation that white privileges are naturally deserving. Furthermore, making the cornerstone of McIntosh’s main argument; that white privilege is just a less aggressive synonym for dominance. When you receive privileges for looking a certain type of way, the recipient becomes immune; often not being able to acknowledge their advantages. As a result, this creates a cultural divide, between racial groups.

In this section he describes how privilege is attached to race, gender and social class. Saying that being a white male, heterosexual, and non-disabled put you ahead of others. My question, though still in the developmentery stages of a sociologist, asks why should I be assumed to have a perfect life? And judged because of my advantages? My question merely deals with a micro situation though if I wanted it to pertain to a macro situation as well I would have to revise it to, Is it fair for oppressed groups to assume that a white, heterosexual, non-disabled male is better off then they are? I ask this question simply because I feel that I have overcome circumstances even people in oppressed groups do not have to face, and judging before knowing leads to stereotyping.

For instance, white people or people who have privilege, meaning that they have a career and a job, are privileged. On the other hand, there are a lot of disadvantaged population that won’t have the opportunity to live as their white folks. Disadvantaged population can be a minority of Whites, African-American, Hispanic and other minorities that didn’t developed the tools and skills to compete with a privileged population. For instance, the educational system is one encourages privilege and disadvantage separating the population more and more, creating a culture of acceptance and low skills as a norm among

Privilege and oppression provides a framework for understanding how institutional structures and ideologies shapes individual experiences. Privilege and oppression also explains “how power operates in society” which led to the formation of “a dominant group and a marginalized group” (Launius and Hassel, Threshold Concepts, 72-73). “Oppression can be defined as prejudice and discrimination directed toward a group and perpetuated by the ideologies and practices of multiple social institutions” (Launius and Hassel, Threshold Concepts, 73). While, privilege refers to the “benefits, advantages, and power that accrue to members of a dominant group as a result of the oppression of marginalized group”,

Privilege is an unfair distribution in which a particular group, goods, services and equity ratio is higher than another group.

Interwoven through history are the have and have nots. Those who come from privilege tend not to recognize those privileges, while those who fall into the marginalized groups have an uphill battle. White privilege is a set of institutional beliefs granted to those based on their skin color. These individuals have better access to privilege and resources. Much of these privileges are seen through types of employment, amount of compensation, quality of schools, and racial profiling. Among these few privileges one can see daily how the people of color are affect with basic needs as well.

According to “The Trouble We’re In” by Allan G. Johnson is that that the differences mainly exist because of privilege and power. The first point that Allan makes was that people are not afraid of change and they are capable of working through issues related to change. The overall point of being different is not the problem. The misconception linked to difference is the well-known theory that people automatically are scared of what they do not know or understand.

One of the main points Tatum made is how the dominant group of a society may not even be aware of their advantage or privilege. As humans, we tend to forget the dominant traits or attributes of ourselves because its similar to society's norm, and we focus on the weaker or less represented traits. Tatum described an example where if she didn't understand why a white woman may not see her white privilege, it would be useful for her to recognize all of the privileges she has taken for granted when she was oblivious to them before (Tatum, 11). Another point she brought up was how the dominant group choose what is the norm and what isn't. Things similar to the dominant group is normal, and people who are different from the dominant group but have

Right on the first page in chapter six it discusses the privilege groups discomfort about discussing privilege. Yes, it is true for so many and for those who don’t feel discomfort, I call you brave and open minded. But, it is a hard thing to discuss especially with a non-privileged group of individuals. I, for one also feel discomfort and defensive sometimes in those situations, and that could be from a number of different reasons. Whether it is because I feel guilty, ashamed, judged, etc. For this I will talk about race, for those who are white, we are born this way, we didn’t choose to be white and there’s nothing you can do about it. You were born into the privileged group here in America. But, it is something that we need to accept and admit to, we are the privileged group but, we don’t because of this nasty stigma about race. Race has turned into this sharp word that scares people when it is mentioned. We, as educators need to change the stigma of that word. We need to make it so people of privilege and non privilege can discuss privilege and race with out discomfort or being offended. In this class, our race discussion had brought up white privilege and at first it was not comfortable but, as you admit to it, the easier it is to discuss.

I agree that being born into privilege means also having greater responsibilities than others because, the individual who has the privilege to do things that others can’t should be taking seriously because if he/she takes advantage or misuses their privileges; someone else could have used their privileges in better ways. As it states in the novel “She said just because your father owns a newspaper and all those factories does not mean you have to feel too big, because her father is rich, too". This reveals that an individual has more responsibilities than others because as someone has privileges others look at them as they have more responsibilities because they are rich. so someone with privileges have the responsibility possessing good qualities

Privilege plays a major role in the novel “To Kill a Mocking Bird “by Harper Lee. Set in 1930’s during the great depression in the southern part of America where racism is predominant and still is in some parts of the world, portrays the lesson of “Privilege is real from race to baking cakes. Sometimes you’re born into it, and sometimes you’re born with it”. The bitter reality of this lesson is that it still exists and is hard to come to an end.

On the other hand, another injustice that is apparent in our society is inequality. It causes us to feel insecure, unimportant and unequal. People make others feel less with words and actions. Sometimes we do it subconsciously, meaning that we don’t think of the outcome and the damage that we cause them emotionally. When that happens, people feel like they don’t

There is no short cut to get ready the existence of privilege, its practice by human being and it can only be solve by mankind. Often topics of discussions are racism, sexism, hetaerism, and gender discriminations. Many people have fought and die for equality in workforce and social living. People have normalized privilege, in our society we don’t like to get involved situations that we fear it will have implications to us even when we know that it’s wrong doing, however; until folks are ignoring when they witness discriminations of any type due to fearing or ramifications they are actually participating and being part of the privilege bubble.