Privilege

Privilege ● Privilege, power, difference, and us - Allan Johnson ○ We have to talk about differences in order to do something about the problem, but most of the time we don’t because it feels too risky ■ Especially true for members of privileged categories ● Whites ● Men ● Heterosexuals ○ Discomfort, defensiveness, and fear come in part from not knowing how to talk about privilege without feeling vulnerable to anger and blame ■ Will continue until we reduce risk of talking about privilege ■ We must understand what makes talking about privilege seem risky ■ The problem begins with how people think about things and who they are in relation to them ○ Individualism, or the myth that everything is somebody’s fault ■ Society encourages us to think that the social world begins and ends with individuals ■ It’s an appealing way to think because it’s grounded in our experience as individuals (what we know best) ● But it’s misleading - puts us in a narrow/distorted view of reality ● It’s not true ■ If we use individualism to explain sexism ● Hard to avoid idea that sexism exists simply because men are sexist ● Men have sexist beliefs, needs, feelings, and motivations that lead them to behave in sexist ways ● If sexism produces evil consequences, it’s because men are evil, hostile, and malevolent towards women ● Everything bad in the world is seen as somebody’s fault ○ Privilege turns into a game of hot potato ■ Individualistic thinking keeps us stuck in trouble ● Makes it impossible to talk seriously about it ● Encourages women to blame and distrust men, for example ● Sets men up to feel personally attacked if anyone mentions gender issues and define it as a “women’s problem” ● Encourages men who don’t think or behave in overtly sexist ways to conclude that sexism has nothing to do with them ● Results in paralysis ○ People either talk about sexism in the most superficial, unthreatening, trivializing, stupid way ○ Or they don’t talk about it at all ■ Breaking that paralysis starts with realizing that the social world consists of more than just individuals ● We always participate in something larger than ourselves (social systems) To understand what happens in social systems, we have to look at the system and how the individuals participate in it Individuals, systems, and paths of least resistance ■ If we think of the game Monopoly as a social system (something larger than ourselves that we participate in) we can see how people and systems come together ● Dynamic relationship that produces patterns of social life ○ Including problems around difference and privilege ● People make social systems happen ● This makes people important, but we shouldn’t confuse that with the system itself ○ We aren’t Monopoly (the system) and Monopoly (the system) isn’t us ○ We can describe the game and how it works without saying anything about the personal characteristics of all the people who play it or might play it ■ Systems don’t control us in a rigid and predictable way ● Systems load the odds in certain directions by offering “paths of least resistance” for us to follow ● In every social situation we have an almost limitless number of choices we might make ● All of these possible paths vary in how much resistance we run into if we try to follow them ○ The path of least resistance is more appealing, so we are more likely to choose it ■ It may be the only path we see ■ Similar dynamics operate around issues of difference and privilege ● In a society that separates and privileges people by gender and race, there aren’t many opportunities to get comfortable with people across difference ● This means that managers will feel drawn to employees who resemble them (white, straight, male) ■ Managers who are white and/or male probably won’t realize they’re following a path of least resistance that shapes their choice ● Until they are asked to mentor an African American woman or someone else they don’t resemble ● Greater resistance toward the path of mentoring across difference may result from something like feeling “uncomfortable” in the other person’s presence ● That’s all it takes to make the relationship ineffective ● As the manager follows the path of mentoring and supporting those who most resemble them ○ The patterns of white dominance and male dominance in ● ○ ○ the system are perpetuated, regardless of what people consciously feel or intend ■ People may know that the alternative path exists, but stick to the path of least resistance anyway because they’re afraid of what will happen if they don’t ● Resistance can take many forms: ○ Mild disapproval ○ Being fired from a job ○ Being beaten up ○ Being run out of town ○ Being imprisoned ○ Being tortured ○ Being killed ● The path of least resistance isn’t always an easy path to follow ■ A man may feel uncomfortable when he hears a friend tell a sexist joke and feel compelled to object in some way ● But the path of least resistance is to go along and avoid being ostracized or ridiculed for challenging his friend ○ Smile, laugh, or just remain silent ■ Social life happens through a complex dynamic between all kinds of systems (families, schools, workplaces, communities, entire societies) and the choices people make to participate in them ● Social life produces a variety of consequences including privilege and oppression ● To understand that and what we can do to change it, we have to see how systems are organized in ways that encourage people to follow paths of least resistance ● Existence of those paths and the choice we make to follow them are keys to what creates/perpetuates the forms that privilege/oppression can take What it means to be involved in privilege and oppression ■ Individuals and systems are connected to each other through a dynamic relationship ● Using this relationship as a model for thinking about the world/ourselves, it’s easier to bring problems like racism, sexism, heterosexism out into the open to talk about them ○ It’s easier to see problems in relation to us and see ourselves in relation to them ■ Individualism divides the world up into different kinds of people ● Good and bad ● Racists and nonracists ● “Good guys” and sexist pigs ■ Encourages us to think of racism, sexism, heterosexism as diseases that infect people and make them sick ● ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ So we look for a cure that will turn diseased, flawed individuals into healthy “good” ones ○ Or at least isolate them so they can’t infect others ● If we can’t cure them, then we can at least control their behavior From an individualistic perspective, if you’re not consciously/openly prejudiced/hurtful, then you aren’t part of the problem ● You might show disapproval of “bad” people and try to help those who they hurt ● If your feelings/thoughts/behavior are good, then you are good, and that’s all that matters Unfortunately that’s not all that matters ● Patterns of oppression/privilege are rooted in systems that we all participate in and make happen ○ They are built into paths of least resistance that people follow every day, even if they don’t think about it ○ Ex: when male professors take students who resemble themselves (male) more seriously than those that don’t (female), they don’t have to be consciously sexist to perpetuate gender privilege ■ They don’t have to be “bad” people to produce oppressive consequences ● The only way to change the outcome is to change how we see/play the game ○ And eventually change the system itself and its paths of least resistance ■ We have to create paths that lead in that direction Hate crime perpetrators (neo-nazis, etc.) may have personality disorders that bend them toward victimizing someone, but their choice of whom to victimize isn’t part of a mental illness ● That’s something they have to learn ○ Culture is the most powerful teacher ● In choosing their targets, they follow paths of least resistance built into society, regardless of how they feel/what they intend We have to ask how the system rewards this kind of behavior ● How it creates conditions that make such behavior appear to be the path of least resistance, normal/unremarkable One’s first reaction may be to deny they follow that path ● We don’t have to be ruthless people to support/follow paths of least resistance that lead to behavior with ruthless consequences ● Just going along with the system makes it appear normal and acceptable, which reinforces paths of least resistance for everyone else This is how most systems, including systems of privilege, work ● Good people with good intentions make systems happen that produce injustice/suffering for the culturally devalued/excluded People often don’t know the paths of least resistance are there ○ This is why it’s important to raise awareness that everyone is always following them ○ If you weren’t following them, you’d know because you’d be following an alternative path with greater resistance ■ If you’re not going with the system, people will notice and let you know it Trouble around difference is so pervasive, long-standing, and huge in its consequences for so many that it can’t be written off as misguided doings of a small group with personality problems ● Those labeled as bigots, misogynists, homophobes, are following racist, sexist, heterosexist paths of least resistance built into society “Bad people” are ruthless for doing what the system calls for in a way ● There’s no way to escape being involved in the trouble that comes out of systems Reminders of this reality are everywhere Buying clothes that were made by workers who perform under terrible conditions that can resemble slavery does not make you a bad person ● You don’t intend for those people to suffer for the sake of your wardrobe ● But you are involved in their suffering because you participate in the system that produces the suffering ● That means you can also be part of the solution You don’t have to make a big or even measurable difference to be involved in the solution To perpetuate privilege/oppression, we don’t have to do anything consciously to support it ● Just our silence is crucial for ensuring its future ● No system of social oppression can continue without most people choosing to remain silent about it ○ More whites must talk about racism ○ More men must talk about sexism ○ Most heterosexuals must talk about heterosexism ● This would be a critical step towards revolutionary change ● But majority of “good” people are silent on these issues ○ It’s easy for others to read silence as support As long as we participate in social systems, we can’t choose whether to be involved in the consequences they produce ● We’re involved simply because we’re here ● We can only choose how to be involved ○ To be part of the problem or also the solution ● That’s where our power and responsibility liea ● ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■