Discussion: Power and Privilege

Power Flower exercise: Self-evaluation

Determining how social identity affects the level of power and privileges

Name: Faiileono Tiumalu

Professor: Jan Ivery

Course: HUMN 6162

Date: June 14 2021

Power Flower Diagram (LGBTQ2S Toolkit, 2021).

White

Christian

Middle class

Male

20-35

Social dimensions of identity

Literacy/

Education

Religion

Gender

Social class

Race

Age

University

Introduction

Based on the power flower diagram and exercise above there are different and dynamic dimensions of social identity that can influence my level of power and privileges in the society such as gender, age, level of education/literacy, religion, race, and socioeconomic status/class. For instance, my gender social identity as a male gives me more privilege over the female gender (Terhaar, 2020). Society traditionally gives a male more unearned power and privilege over everything as compared to a female. These include having more access to different crucial opportunities in life such as education, employment, and career opportunities. In the global community and human history, there are multiple cases that reveal how the girls get, married at an early stage or drop out of school due to unwanted pregnancy. Currently, this culture is slowly disappearing from society as people start to embrace the need for gender equality. Nonetheless, the traditional culture still influences how a high percentage of society thinks and compares individuals. Jones (2018) put forwards that in the current healthcare system there is a high possibility that doctors study more about men than women. The claim reveals that being a man increases the chance to better healthcare services than being a woman. Additionally, more men hold most of the high positions in the American corporation than women giving an apparent picture there is an unequal distribution of privileges between the male and the female gender.

Moreover, my age identity as a young and youthful individual between the ages of 20-35 years increases the level of power and privilege in society as an energetic and productive person. Typically, society considers an old individual as low productive and low energetic hence in comparison my age gives me more power and privilege in the professional field (Terhaar, 2020). As a university student and a white American, the high level of literacy and fluent English accent also increase my privilege and power in society. Due to the incident of racism, brutality, and discrimination the society expects that as a Christian and White American with a high-level education I have a better more privilege for better opportunities in academics, career field, and life as compared to a Black American and none Christian. The high level of power and privilege can significantly influence how I perceive and experience my life as a student, a professional, and an American citizen. For instance, my privileges and power as a well-educated White American may influence how I perceive my obligation to eliminate racism, discrimination, and violence in the country (Anable, 2018). Nonetheless, my race may influence my perception been inhuman and this can negatively influence how I interact and associate with other people in the society due to shame and self-blame for being part of the society that marginalizes and oppress others.

Therefore growing up in this kind of environment and as a man, there is a high chance that I would perceive and experience the current and future changes such as increasing gender equality as unfavorable for personal benefits. For example, I may be reluctant to support gender equality in the workplace because my gender identity already provides significant privileges and power. There is a chance that I would not participate in a gender equality campaign and movement since such activities are not in favor of my gender as a man or they may lower my privileges and power in society. I am also more likely to feel more privileged and powerful to access better education, career opportunity, and lifestyle as compared to the minority in the society.

This relatively high level of power and privilege in society will influence how I make an ethical decision in terms of a personal evaluation to see how the decision conflict with the core ethical values and social norms in the society. For instance, as a more privileged person than the minority in the society I may feel obligated to changes personal behaviors than others’ behaviors and avoid the blame, denial, guilt, and shame for been racist and discriminative (Lipari, 2018). In other words, the high level of power and privilege influences how I consider my character, check my guts, and gather facts. It will also influence how I identity ethical issues in society, identify affected parties, related consequences, and relevant principles. For instance, I may see ethical issues as challenges that mostly affect others in society and not those within my social class.

References

Anable, R. B. E. (2018). Racism in the United States: Implications for the Helping Professions. https://connect.springerpub.com/content/book/978-0-8261-4885-8/chapter/ch01

Jones S. (2018). Gender and Privilege.  https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.csee.org/resource/resmgr/docs/_topic_documents/diversity/gender_and_privilege.pdf

LGBTQ2S Toolkit (2021). Power Flower – LGBTQ2S Toolkit. https://lgbtq2stoolkit.learningcommunity.ca/training/power-flower/

Lipari, F. (2018). This is how we do it: How social norms and social identity shape decision-making under uncertainty. Games, 9(4), 99.

Terhaar, V. (2020). Gender as Perspective: The On-going Psychoanalytic Privilege of the Penis. Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 15(3), 302-308.