White Privilege How It Relates to Society and You

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White Privilege 1 WHITE PRIVILEGE AND HOW IT RELATES TO SOCIETY AND YOU Andrea White Anthropology 270 Professor Satterlund April 28, 2013 White Privilege 2 White privilege how it relates to society and you Introduction: Define Privilege White privilege refers to the unearned benefits that some enjoy simply by having “white” skin. This privilege is at the expense of people of color but white people cannot maintain this system of privilege without losing a part of their own humanity. The characteristics of the privileged group define the societal norm, often benefiting those in the privileged group. Second, privileged group members can rely on their privilege and avoid objecting to oppression (Wildman and Davis pg. 110). Privilege generally allows people to assume a certain level of acceptance, inclusion and respect in the world, to operate within a relatively wide comfort zone. Privilege increases the odds of having things your own way, of being able to set the agenda in a social situation and determine the rules and standards and how they're applied. Privilege also grants the cultural authority to make judgments about others and to have those judgments stick (Johnson pg. 115). There are special advantages to privilege, like who gets taken seriously, who receives attention, who is accountable to whom and for what. It also grants a presumption of superiority and social permission to act on that presumption without having to worry about being challenged.( Johnson pg. 115). Some of the practices that are created in white privilege are, the differences in health care between whites and blacks. According to Tim Wise, over 1 million black people died between 1991-2000 because they did not have the same access to healthcare and protection from toxic exposure as whites. He also pointed out how non-whites are discriminated
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