Personal Privilege Analysis Key Points.

Personal Privilege Analysis

Key Points. This chapter introduces the concept of individualism and how it relates to privilege. The author argues that our society's individualistic worldview ascribes blame or guilt to somebody for everything that happens, which makes it easy for people to take offense at discussions of privilege. He attempts to draw connections between the individual and the system in which the individual exists and relate these to the concept of privilege.

Two key points are that people are often guided towards the path of least resistance and that we are all involved in privilege and oppression. The first I disagree with because it is a base assumption that the author never supports. Many people fail to recognize the path of least resistance, and some actively choose to avoid it. The author actually provides examples of this in the chapter, like the restaurant sit-in students. The second is an interesting idea. The author is probably right, but undermines his points with more unsubstantiated assumptions. If privilege and oppression are societal, then all of society is involved, no matter what role one plays.

Interestingly, my life experiences highlight a lot of examples that cut into the author's logic. To suggest that managers hire those like themselves and that means white is the writing of someone who has never lived or worked in a multicultural society. To suggest that one cannot dance in a movie theater just means he hasn't been to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I jest, but the points the author uses seem ill-chosen because while he assumes them to be universal they really don't apply to the life of someone who has left his small whitebread town.

This brings me to the question about this chapter -- the author argues that individualism plays a significant role in society's fostering of privilege and oppression. Why then, I ask, are privilege and oppression just as prevalent in Asia's collectivist societies. Cambodians hate Vietnamese, Vietnamese hate Chinese, Chinese hate Japanese. The Koreans and Japanese are horribly sexist cultures. I definitely would ask the author why privilege exists in collectivist societies just as much as individualist ones.

Chapter Seven: This chapter discusses how systems of privilege work. The author makes ample use of anecdotes to illustrate the ways in which society reinforces the privilege that it has ascribed to its members. This includes the way each member of society identifies with his or her status regarding privilege -- he argues that we generally take the path of least resistance. Even when not actively engaging in oppression we often tolerate it.

Although it is just one of his examples, he mentions one that is interesting. He says "If a small group of white citizens marches on Washington to protest a policy that had nothing to do with race, news reports wouldn't mention their race and certainly wouldn't try to figure out why the group was all white." Now this dovetails with the Tea Party/Occupy news coverage dynamic. The former group received very little criticism for its protests and few noticed the all-white nature of the group. The Occupy movement was subject to far greater scrutiny (even though mostly white). I know the author is making his point about race-based privilege but this example fits in well with 2011 and illustrates how class-based privilege works in our society. The old rich white people don't have their motives questioned except by their staunch opposition. The young middle class and poor (mostly) white people are subject to news reporters ignoring the clarity of their message and to police brutality.

Another interesting point from this chapter is just how entrenched the reinforcement is in society. The author gives so many examples -- the words we use, our media, our entertainment…just about every facet of our life. It is interesting to look at everything things and ideas through the lens of privilege analysis.

The ample use of real life examples in this chapter is intended to be something to which I can relate and there were a few. I never really thought about all of the little subtle ways that privilege is reinforced in our society.

A question I would ask about this chapter is the importance of the subtler aspects of privilege reinforcement. What I mean is that if we focus on little things like the words we use -- worrying if it okay so use the word "queer" or not or if it is okay for the author to criticize Deborah Tannen's work -- do we lose focus on the bigger picture? I wonder if it isn't better to focus on big picture things rather than nit-picking, even if using a loaded word does make a small contribution to oppression.

Chapter 8: This chapter discusses the ways that individuals and society work to minimize the problem or their involvement in it, rather than addressing it. The mechanisms he identifies are deny & minimize, blame the victim, call it something else, it's better this way, it doesn't count if you don't mean it and more.

There are many interesting things about this chapter. The "I'm one of the good ones point" is one on which I disagree with the author. When taken on balance with chapter 9, the author disagrees with himself. He suggests here that it does not matter if you don't think you contribute to oppression because we all do. This is absurd -- there are degrees in everything in this world and some people are actually better than others. His point about passive acceptance being as bad as being a part of the Klan is utterly irresponsible. If he ever met a neo-Nazi, he would not make such a statement.

Another thing that was interesting about the chapter is how many of these things occur everyday. When you think about each one, you can see it clearly. If you want to deny and minimize, just say that since we elected Obama that racism is dead. Each one of these things has examples just as clear that I know from everyday experience. I may have issues with his framing, but the general points are very true.

I would ask, though, why he totally botches his argument in the section "it doesn't count if you don't mean it." I expected there to be some serious meat in this section and instead he makes his argument with some straw man he made up. The issue of conscious intent is just brushed aside -- why did he do that? The entire point of the book thus far is to call attention to the fact that privilege and oppression exist on many levels. Most of us think that the conscious level is all we need to address -- so why does he veer away from the subconscious aspect of privilege and oppression when the opportunity arises? This is the most important issue. I would express my disappointment at the sloppy way in which he handled what is probably the most important issue in the whole discussion.

Chapter 9: This chapter asks What Can We Do? The author naturally concludes the book by answering his own question. What I get most from this is that change starts small and we should begin to take these steps in order to enact the broad societal change.

The first point I find interesting is the myth of "it's always been this way and it always will." I agree that this is a myth, but I wonder if the author understands that he too is part of the problem. That he is from another generation is so obvious in his writing -- it often does not describe the world in which I was raised (admittedly a progressive world). The author writes like we're still in the sixties. We're not -- we have a long way to go but the author seems to deny that any progress has been made when human society has never once stopped changing. We are dealing from a state of constant change and he writes like we're standing still. He's got us doing algebra when we should be doing calculus.