Social privilege
Privileged groups can be advantaged based on social class, wealth, education, caste, age, height, skin color, physical fitness, nationality, geographic location, cultural differences, ethnic or racial category, gender, gender identity, neurodiversity, physical disability, sexual orientation, religion, and other differentiating factors.
He wrote that these included courtesy and deference, unimpeded admittance to all public functions, lenient treatment in court, and access to the best schools.
As an example, "I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me", and "I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection".
[4] In the context of the theory, privileged people are considered to be "the norm", and, as such, gain invisibility and ease in society, with others being cast as inferior variants.
Derald Wing Sue has referred to such denial as a form of "microaggression" or microinvalidation that negates the experiences of people who do not have privilege and minimizes the impediments they face.
They justify this by acknowledging the acts of individuals of unearned dominance, but deny that privilege is institutionalized as well as embedded throughout our society.
have argued is particularly unsettling for Americans for whom belief that they live in a meritocracy is a deeply held cultural value, and one that researchers commonly characterize as a myth.
[14][20][21][22] In The Gendered Society, Michael Kimmel wrote that when people at all levels of privilege do not feel personally powerful, arguments that they have benefited from unearned advantages seem unpersuasive.
This exploration sheds light on how privilege manifests in different societal spheres and its implications for marginalized communities.
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to physical appearance and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another.
This can result in particular ethnic and cultural groups having privileged access to a multitude of resources and opportunities, including education and work positions.
However, even after these institutional and legal changes, African Americans were still targeted by educational racism in the form of school segregation in the United States.
The term refers to "the ways in which race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, English proficiency, community wealth, familial situations, or other factors contribute to or perpetuate lower educational aspirations, achievement, and attainment for certain groups of students.
Racist policies and beliefs, in part, explain why children and young adults from racially marginalized groups fail to achieve academically at the same rate as their White peers.
[36] Despite the fact that Canada legalized same-sex marriage in 2005 and has enshrined the protection of the human rights of all people of all sexual orientations, there is still societal bias against those who do not conform to heterosexuality.
[37][38] Beyond this, institutions such as marriage stop homosexual partners from accessing each other's health insurance, tax benefits or adopting a child together.
McIntosh describes it as an invisible knapsack of unearned advantages, leading to limited perspectives and empathy towards marginalized groups.
[40] Taylor Phillips and Brian Lowery's research further elaborates on how whites tend to hide their privilege from themselves, maintaining the status quo and hindering progress toward equity.
Taylor Phillips and Brian Lowery's study[42] reveals that when confronted with their privilege, individuals tend to defend themselves, attributing success to personal efforts rather than acknowledging systemic advantages.
This defensive response shields individuals from accepting their unearned advantages, representing a form of privilege hazard.
Shai Davaidai and Jacklyn Stein's works delve into perceptions of wealth and poverty, highlighting the impact of environments on individuals' views of their circumstances.
[49] Often people construct themselves in relation to the majority, so ties to identity and therefore degrees of privilege can be stronger for more marginalized groups.
This perspective underscores the complexity of addressing systemic privilege, emphasizing the need to reshape societal norms and institutional structures.
Herb Goldberg's book sheds light on how the idea of male privilege and power has hurt men's personal self-realization.
