The First Presumption Associated With Dominant Privilege Is Innocence

Although white privilege is an existent term many white people choose to ignore that they embody it because of the way society covers white privilege. Some examples of societal norms include “nude” colored crayons or “flesh colored bandages.” “Those with privilege can afford to look away from mistreatment that does not affect them personally. The conflation of privilege

The institutional and cultural influences that generate these ideas of privilege and oppression are derived from the cycle of socialization. Before children are even able to comprehend what race is, the cycle of socialization is already shaping their views on society and social identities. Bobbie Harro illustrates the cycle of socialization by stating, “the socialization process is pervasive, consistent, circular, self-perpetuating and often invisible” (41). This makes the cycle extremely influential for the creation of our social identities in our society. In my personal experience, I vividly remember my parents taking extra precautious in poor black communities when I was younger to ensure my safety. Although their only intention was to promote my wellbeing, indirectly they established the notion that poor black people are dangerous. Obviously it’s erroneous to claim all black people are dangerous, but this is evidence of the beginning stages of the cycle of socialization taking action.

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.

Peddy McIntosh highlighted various unearned white privileges in her autobiographical article “White Privilege, Color and Crime: A Personal Account.” She illustrated the white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that one white person could count on cashing in each day. White people have these privileges given to them by the society in which they live in. The same society taught them to be ignorant and unawareness of these privileges. This system of unearned privileges established by white individuals made people of color feel oppressed. In this system being white is a norm and dominant power. Caucasians, who benefit most from the white privilege system in the United States, are more likely to

Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack” addresses the issue of acknowledging whites’ unaware privileges, thus weakening the systems of advantage to reconstruct power systems in the society from 1989 to the present. For instance, men are unconscious about their privileges in a patriarchal society while women are oppressed in the society. White people are unaware of the privileges which they take for granted while non-white communities are discriminated against repeatedly. McIntosh identities her privileges from daily life, which she also relates the patterns of white privilege and assumptions that passed down.

Today, the U.S. is considered a “post-racial” society, and many believe that in this day and age, equality is much more prevalent among races. However, the word “many” is mostly referring to the white population in the U.S.. Majority of white people often refuse to believe that they have more privileges, or benefits, compared to people of color. Throughout history, and even in todays society, white privilege has been an issue that many people of color have discussed. For example, research shows that white people are much less likely to be arrested and jailed compared to black people, even though blacks only make up 30% of the population, they make up 60% of the prison population. White privilege and the advantages received through colorism is very much evident even now in current times.

This essay will address key aspects of white privilege and pick the two most important aspects with explanations signifying the reasons for their choosing. An explicit aspect of white privilege is the fact that it is an automatic add-on to anybody satisfying the definition of “whiteness”. Whiteness is defined by Frankenberg (1993) as a concept/identity historically, socially, politically, and culturally produced involving systems of domination (p. 40) thereby privileging anyone who satisfies this definition. Another notable aspect of white privilege is the fact that white people are taught not to recognize their privilege (McIntosh, 2002, p. 33). On a more subtle level, white privilege is an ongoing, institutionalized remnant of colonization. Another aspect of white privilege is its ability in creating dichotomies with PoC. For example, whiteness is associated with “innocence” and “goodness” while blackness is associated with “evil” and “badness” (hooks, 1992, p. 49).

According to the authors, what practice(s) create white privilege is viewed in their own unique perspective but, it all fits up under one category of a specific race having the advantage to have their freedom to do what they like. Based on McIntosh view that “whites in Western societies adore recompenses that non-whites do not practice, as "an undistinguishable package of unjustified assets” (Rothenberg, 2016). White freedom represents together evident and not as much of evident submissive rewards that white people may possibly not identify they require, which differentiates it from explicit favoritism or preconception. In fact, they have been accepted as the better social status in addition to freedom to move, buy, work, play, and speak freely. It

This suggests that Ascriptive Americanism plays a big part in this issue, since white privilege is basically a stratification system where people are placed in positions based on qualities beyond their control such as, skin color, race, gender, etc. Albeit systemic racism is performed relevantly in our society, it shines the most in our criminal justice system.

Take me for example, as I’m categorized as someone who has more in common with the oppressed people. My race is one part of the reason why. I’m a Multi-racial individual, being half African American and half Mexican. This in turn makes me oppressed, because society in America has made it clear throughout generations that white people are the superior race in America. So if you’re not white and is anything less than that, then you are considered a minority. Now it wouldn’t really be a problem, if it weren’t for the fact that, once again, privilege cannot exist without oppression. Just because of the color of my skin, I’m already stereotyped. A person who is white is paid more, a person who is white are placed first before anyone else regarding searching for jobs and internships. Even if I’m walking, I feel like I have to watch myself

An intelligent Black boy, who dumbs himself down to avoid criticism. The Hispanic girl who stays at home to take care of her family, instead of going to school. The Asian who pursues a career in medicine, despite wanting to be an actor. All of these strange actions can be explained by the Critical Race Theory. In short, the Critical Race Theory examines how victims of racism and stereotypes counter prejudice. Under the Critical Race Theory falls stereotype threat in which victims assume the roles that they think are prescribed for them based on popular stereotypes. The aim of stereotype threat and the Critical Race Theory is to explain both negative and positive ways minorities are effected by their race and how this reflected in our society as a whole.

In “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, Peggy McIntosh discusses how she, as a white person, had been taught that racism is “something that puts others at a disadvantage”, rather than something that gives her an advantage. She then lists some consequences of her white privilege, which she calls “unpacking [an] invisible knapsack of white privilege”. Among the items on this list are “I can turn on the television or open the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented” and “I can be pretty sure that if I asked to talk to ‘the person in charge’, I will be facing a person of my race”. These are advantages that white people take for granted and rarely – if ever – think about. Almost everyone has their own so-called invisible knapsack of privilege, though the effects of one’s privilege might not relate to their race, but instead to class, gender, religion, sexuality, geographical location, education or other aspects of social location. In this paper, I will begin to unpack my own invisible knapsack of privilege, focusing on race, class, religion and geographical location.

For example, in Steele’s essay, we see a game being played to win over power. The black engineer accuses the whites for being evil because his daughter is in a white school; thus confirming his innocence. The engineer claims that he is the victim and places the guilt on the whites. To counter attack, the whites stay silent to protect their innocence by looking at him as a troublemaker who wrongly accuses them. As one can see, innocence can be used to cause guilt, which leads to power. The less a race is blamed, the more powerful the race is. As Steele once said, “Innocence is

What are cultural assumptions? Cultural assumptions are defined as assumptions that are commonly known throughout a culture. These assumptions are highly relevant in the modern society we live in. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, you will always have your own assumptions. Literature plays a key part in what kind of assumptions we will have, right from the age we begin to process information in our minds. This leads me to the assumption that has stuck with us since our childhood days. Stepmothers. There is a strong cultural assumption that stepmothers are ‘evil’ people, who force their way into other families and are malicious to their stepchildren. Assumptions like this influence our perceptions and lead

This is done deliberately through representations of the other by the dominant group, as they have the power to mark, assign and classify (Hall, 2001), to justify the subordination of these groups (Lorber, 1994). It is through these subordinate characteristics (stereotypes) assigned to the subordinate groups that they become the way in which the group is defined and hierarchically stratified on the basis of race, class, sexuality or gender and then become naturalised through discourse (Hall, 2001). For example black people are hyper-sexualised and characteristics such as barbaric and savage are associated with them (Hall, 2001). This then becomes the reason why black people are seen as inferior and in need of being subordinated, oppressed and marginalised. This is then articulated through discourse and by doing this the dominant group maintains power as it is connected with knowledge; knowledge that dominant groups aim to replace their own specialized thought so as to produce internalised oppression in subordinate groups (Collins, 1990).