¶ … McIntosh (1988) puts it, the primary issue with privilege and the power that comes with it is that those who are privileged rarely realize or acknowledge it. Denial of power and privilege perpetuates problems, because when men display "unwillingness to grant that they are over privileged," it becomes impossible to engage in meaningful dialogue or generate change (McIntosh, 1988, p. 22). One example of how dialogue is systematically shut down is the backlash against feminism, and the fear of "feminization" of society that is commonly heard among the most powerful and privileged. In the same way, whites fail to recognize white privilege, going so far as to make accusations of "reverse racism" when any attempt is made to reverse structural inequality.
Flagg (1993) also raises a crucial concern about the need for race consciousness, not racial erasure or "color blindness." To be color blind is to deny not only the potency that race has in the public consciousness and in personal identity construction, but also to deny and disavow the continued existence of racism in society. It is important to be racially conscious, for whites to own their own racial identity and acknowledge all the powers and privileges associated with whiteness throughout the world. Color blindness sounds romantic, but does far more harm than good by shutting down dialogue and discourse. If, as Flagg (1993) suggests, "substantive racial justice" is a shared goal among all Americans, then the dialogue about race needs to continue (p. 954).
Consciousness of race means different things to different people. Racial identity depends on race consciousness, not as a means of creating categories of "us" and "them," although this does certainly happen. Another function...
By the same token, gender identity implies the willingness to explore why fewer women than men are thriving in STEM or why the pay gap remains unquestioned in
government and policy.
Being privileged is by
definition something that feels good, and which makes life substantially easier versus the underprivileged or the unprivileged. The people who are privileged by virtue of their being born in the right
place at the right time to the right people sometimes project their experiences onto others, presuming that because it was easy for them to
excel in
school or get into
college or start a business that it should be that way for everyone, and that those who do not achieve their goals simply did not work hard enough. The myth of the American meritocracy persists. Sure, working hard is a necessary factor in anyone's
success, privileged beginnings or not. When we consider, though, the single mom who could not afford the best quality pre-schools, who worked two jobs and…
