Privilege

Privilege refers to unearned group-based advantages that some people have over others. The term is commonly used to describe situations in which some group or individual has benefits that are not based on solely, or in some cases at all, their skills and abilities, but rather because of who they are. According to professors Linda Black and David Stone, scholars differ on how precisely they define and describe privilege. There are, however, five basic commonalties in the current understanding of the concept. First, privilege is a special advantage; it is neither common nor universal. Second, it is granted, not earned or brought into being by one's individual effort or talent. Third, privilege is a right or entitlement that is related to a preferred status or rank. Fourth, privilege is exercised for the benefit of the recipient and to the exclusion or detriment of others. Finally, a privileged status is often outside the awareness of the person possessing it.

Scholars have discussed male privilege and privileges related to social class, sexual orientation, and other variables. Most frequently, however, discussions about privilege have focused on race. White privileges are advantages held by light-skinned persons in institutions such as schools, colleges, the workplace, and criminal justice. They are also manifest in each person's daily life, although they are often presented as earned, not ascribed. Acknowledging privilege is essential to understanding racism and prejudice against ethnic groups.

The idea of privilege is not new. People of color have long spoken and written about privilege in terms of advantages that European colonists held over people of color. Sociologist, historian, and [Page 1752]civil rights activist W. E. B Du Bois discussed privilege in 1935, noting that it was a legacy of colonialism. Authors James Baldwin and Gloria Anzaldua described the many advantages held by those with light skin, although they did not use the term privilege. In 1965, activist Theodore Allen wrote specifically about white privilege, calling on white people to “repudiate their white skin privileges.” Radical authors in the 1970s also described and critiqued privilege, reflecting not only on their white privilege but also on their class privilege, ethnic privilege, and sexual orientation privilege. In 1987, sociologist Peggy McIntosh helped popularize the concept of privilege in her essay, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” Since the 1980s, there has been growing interest in what has been called privilege studies. Scholars have noted that focusing only on dichotomous understandings (such as black versus white, male versus female) fails to fully recognize the many intricacies and intersections of privilege.

McIntosh's work dramatically increased interest in the subject of privilege. Although initially reflecting on the privileges males have in a society that remains male-dominated, McIntosh focused her seminal piece on white privilege. She describes white privilege as an invisible knapsack, something white people carry around with them daily but are carefully taught not to recognize. Importantly, privilege is not something that only occurred in history. Rather, privilege is still manifest in each person's daily life. McIntosh began thinking about these issues when she noticed that men rarely admitted that they are advantaged, even while admitting that women might be disadvantaged. Denying that one is a member of a group that receives advantages or privileges simply because of the group's status is a way of maintaining the status quo. Once whites admit that they are privileged, they can then move toward taking individual and collective action that reduces disparities.

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