What is Privilege?
"Privilege" refers to certain social advantages, benefits, or degrees of prestige and respect that an individual has by virtue of belonging to certain social identity groups. Within American and other Western societies, these privileged social identities—of people who have historically occupied positions of dominance over others—include whites, males, heterosexuals, able-bodied, and the wealthy, among others.
Privilege oppresses certain groups. As explained by Wildman and Davis (1995), members of the privileged group gain many benefits by their affiliation with the dominant side of the power system. Privileged advantage in societal relationships benefits the holder of privilege, who may receive deference, special knowledge, or a higher comfort level to guide societal interaction. Privilege is not visible to its holder; it is merely there, a part of the world, a way of life, simply the way things are. Others have a lack, an absence, a deficiency.
The degree to which individuals experience privilege must be framed within the context of their own race, gender, ability level, religion, sexual orientation, and/or gender identity coupled with the communities in which they live, work, and play as well as the persons with whom they interact.
Engaging in thoughtful discussion with people of other backgrounds is essential to understanding privilege. White Privilege: Essential Readings by Paula S. Rothenberg, or “Waking Up White” by Debby Irving for understanding of white privilege or Why We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez for understanding more about male privilege; Understanding Heterosexual Privilege these are unearned benefits you receive as a result of your sexuality that folks with other sexualities do not.
Privilege is problematic (a) when it skews our personal interactions and judgments and (b) when it contributes to or blinds us to systemic barriers for those who do not possess a certain privilege, thereby creating or perpetuating inequity. Certain groups have the privilege of operating within settings—through no effort on their part—that are more conducive for their success, while others—through no fault of their own—find themselves in settings that make success more difficult. We see this most strongly played out with white privilege.
Recognize that having privilege does not require feeling guilty for your privilege.
Because each of us likely has an element of privilege within our make-up (ethnicity, gender, ability level, religion, sexual orientation, and/or gender identity), individuals need not feel guilty for their privilege.
Rather, the focus should be to use our privileged positions to challenge the systems in which we live. Specifically, challenge yourself and others to refuse to live in a system of unchecked privilege.
Self Reflection
An important first step to understanding the concept of group-based privilege and how it can shape peoples’ perspectives, experiences, and interactions is to examine our own experience. We can be the beneficiary of privilege without recognizing or consciously perpetuating it. Learning to see one’s own privilege as well as that of groups and systems can create an important pathway to self-discovery. Some questions to consider are listed below.
When was the last time you had to think about your ethnicity, race, gender identity, ability level, religion, and/or sexual orientation? What provoked you to think about it or acknowledge it?
When watching TV or a movie, how likely are you to watch shows whose characters reflect your ethnicity, race, gender, ability level, religion, gender identity, and/or sexual orientation?
When using social media, how diverse is your feed? How diverse are your friends and followers? How diverse are those that you follow?
How do you respond when others make negative statements towards individuals of a different ethnicity, race, gender, ability level, religion, sexual orientation, and/or gender identity than yourself?
How often do you go to social settings where the majority of individuals are of a different ethnicity, race, gender, ability level, religion, sexual orientation, and/or gender identity than yourself?
How diverse is the community in which you live?
How diverse it the leadership team in your workplace? When you look around your team are there lots of different identities present and represented or is it a mostly homogenous environment?
How do you feel when you are in a community that is different than your neighborhood?
How would you make your neighborhood more inclusive and sensitive?
When was the last time someone who looked like you (same gender and/or race) helped you get an internship or a job interview?
If you recognized your privilege, what did you do with this realization?
Understanding and engaging in self-reflection and discussions about privilege is an essential step to addressing individual and systemic inequities in our society. We must be aware of and honest about our personal perspectives and how these may or may not contribute to biases that in turn may contribute, even unintentionally, to prejudice, inequity, isolation, lack of access, poverty, and violence.
Pushing Back Your Privilege
The truth is that acknowledging your privilege means a whole lot of nothing much if you don’t do anything to actively push back against it.
Think about the different ways you can relinquish your power and privilege, and yes it will be hard.
Places to Start…
1. Acknowledging the privilege(s) you hold. Part of the issue in discussing privilege, is that even individuals who have LOTS of privilege want to be acknowledged for their hardships and may get defensive when speaking about the privileges they experience. This makes sense - we all want empathy towards our life challenges and many have worked hard and equate hard work to their success. It is of course part of it, yet ignoring the role that race, gender, sexuality, able-bodied etc plays in our societies and who is more easily allowed to participate and gain access to opportunities, is in itself an example of privilege.
2. Lead with empathy and understand the individual experience. When first entering into a conversation about privilege, start by asking about the ways in which the person does not have privilege. This is helpful not only in understanding the person more, but also extending empathy
3. Pushing back against your privilege means sharing opportunities, access with to folks around you who have less privilege or access to equitable opportunities. If you have access to something or a space where there are very few people who look different to you or are of a marginalized group, invite people in. Pushing back against your privilege often requires using your privilege to open doors, create space and in times that may mean stepping back or giving up something that you have easier access too.
4. Prioritize listening first - If you are a person with a lot of privilege (i.e. a white, heterosexual, able-bodied, class-privileged, cisgender male or any combination of two or more of those) and you stand for equity and inclusion, then make it part of your regular routine to listen more than you talk. Particularly when you are the dominant identity in the room.
We encourage everyone to reflect on the privileges you have, and the privileges you may not have. Extend this conversation to your friends and family members to continue to build a world that is focused on equality, equity and fairness and enables our societies and people to thrive.