(2) Diversity Questions With (4) Peer Reviews

Answer Question

Week Discussion

Patricia Hill Collins refers to race, class, gender, etc. as "interlocking structures of oppression." Implied in that statement is that while some are oppressed and discriminated against on the basis of one or more of these categories, others continue to be privileged. Citing peer reviewed sociological research on the subject, define privilege (on the basis of categories of identity) and discuss how privilege operates in peoples' daily lives.

Peer Review 1:

Robert:

I don’t believe in privilege in 2019, I assume that the question is talking specifically about white male privilege, but I can discuss how other people may see how privilege or how it may have played a role in the 20th century.  Privilege is the supposed fact that people have an advantage in life based on the color of their skin, gender, or ethnicity (McIntosh, 1988). The only type of privilege that I can speak to is a person that has been raised in a home that the parents are millionaires, but that’s not really privilege, its just the situation the person was born into.

              I guess if I were to discuss how privilege operates in people’s lives is that on the basis of being white you are given an advantage over other people in the world due to the color of your skin (Leonardo, 2019). It is supposed to be the fact that if you have a different color skin or gender than white that you are not included into circles that you would otherwise be included in.

              I could give so many examples of how, no matter where you were born, no matter what color your skin, and no matter how low income you were raised in, that you can end up in the same spot as someone else with different circumstances. I will end this discussion here, and politely respond to anyone with comments.

Works Cited

Leonardo, Z. (2019, June 09). The Color of Supremacy: Beyond the discourse of ‘white privilege’. Retrieved from Tondfonline: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2004.00057.x?journalCode=rept20

McIntosh, P. (1988). WHITE PRIVILEGE AND MALE PRIVILEGE: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences Through Work in Women's Studies (1988) . Retrieved from College Art: https://www.collegeart.org/pdf/diversity/white-privilege-and-male-privilege.pdf

Peer Review 2:

Anthony:

Interlocking structure of oppression

Across the world, the issue of culture, sexual orientation, race, gender identity, and gender are being discussed and the impact they have on people’s lives. Class, gender dynamics, and race result in discrimination and power differences among members of an organization or community. Privilege can be defined as the undeserved provision of access to possessions that are highly valued yet only experienced by a certain group to benefit them but occurs at the expense of others (Collins and Barnes 62). Privilege, therefore, impacts the lives of people by influencing diversity and transformation efforts.  

In everyday life, privilege is widespread among different circles. In many circles, members who form the majority are often the privileged ones. In the U.S., the majority culture is made of those who identify as white. These individuals have special status and experiences, although it may be hidden (Phillips and Lowery). In the U.S., there are simple activities that people of color do not get to take part in or take part in, such as shopping without the fear of being followed to ensure they do not shoplift. There are also neighborhoods where people of color find it hard to rent a house because the majority of the population in the area is white.

 Other daily life activities affected by privilege include disciplining in schools where people of color are disproportionately punished for misbehavior when compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Privilege is also experienced in the justice system where extreme measures are taken to restrain colored individuals like in times of arrest since the common prejudice is that these groups are predisposed to criminality. Educated elites also believe that they only are capable of interpreting an individual’s experiences, thus refute ideas generated outside the frame of their language and their comfort zone (Hill 36-37). These aspects of privilege continue to exist because most privilege groups refuse to acknowledge their existence and therefore continue to propagate social injustice. 

Works Cited

Collins, Leslie, and Sandra L. Barnes. "Observing privilege: Examining race, class, and gender in health and human service organizations." Journal for Social Action in Counseling & Psychology 6.1 (2014): 61-83.

Hill Collins, Patricia. "Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment." (2000).

Phillips, L. Taylor, and Brian S. Lowery. "Herd invisibility: The psychology of racial privilege." Current Directions in Psychological Science 27.3 (2018): 156-162.