| Revision as of 00:03, 10 January 2014 view sourceDemocraticLuntz (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers228,013 edits Reverted 1 good faith edit by 71.183.46.251 using STiki← Previous edit | Revision as of 17:56, 21 January 2014 view source 2607:fcc8:b440:7c00:94c1:ee67:7728:1c57 (talk) fixdTag: blankingNext edit → | ||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| White privilege is a fictional excuse non white people use when they do not succeed as much as a white person. It is ultimately another form of playing the "race card". In the mind of a non white everything and anything wrong can attributed to them not being white, the notion that maybe they did not try hard enough or spend too much of their money on non necessities never even dances across their minds. | |||
| {{For|the clothing protocol in the Vatican|Privilège du blanc}} | |||
| {{POV|date=December 2012}} | |||
| {{globalize|article|USA|date=January 2014}} | |||
| '''White privilege''' (or '''white skin privilege''') refers to the set of societal privileges that ] benefit from beyond those commonly experienced by ] in the same social, political, or economic spaces (nation, community, workplace, income, etc.).<ref name="definition" group="note"/> The term denotes both obvious and less obvious unspoken advantages that white individuals may not recognize they have, which distinguishes it from overt bias or prejudice.<ref>Neville, H., Worthington, R., Spanierman, L. (2001).Race, Power, and Multicultural Counseling Psychology: Understanding White Privilege and Color Blind Racial Attitudes. In Ponterotto, J., Casas, M, Suzuki, L, and Alexander, C.(Eds) Handbook of Multicultural Counseling, Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.</ref> These include cultural affirmations of one's own worth; presumed greater social status; and freedom to move, buy, work, play, and speak freely.<ref name="Unpacking">McIntosh, Peggy. "Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." Race, Class, and Gender in the United States: An Integrated Study. 2001. Paula S. Rothenberg. New York: Worth Publishers, 2004.</ref> The concept of white privilege also implies the right to assume the universality of one's own experiences, marking others as different or exceptional while perceiving oneself as normal. It can be compared to and/or combined with the concept of ]. | |||
| Academic perspectives such as ] and ] use the concept of "white privilege" to analyze how ] and ] affect the lives of white individuals. The term itself is most often used in North America and English-speaking countries with histories of racial stratification after colonialism, such as South Africa<ref name=Vice>{{cite journal|last=Vice|first=Samantha|title=How Do I Live in This Strange Place?|journal=Journal of Social Philosophy|date=7 September 2010|volume=41|issue=3|pages=323–342|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9833.2010.01496.x}}</ref> and Australia.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Martin-McDonald|first=K|coauthors=McCarthy, A|title='Marking' the white terrain in indigenous health research: literature review.|journal=Journal of advanced nursing|date=January 2008|volume=61|issue=2|pages=126–33|pmid=18186904|doi=10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04438.x}}</ref> | |||
| Critics suggest that the term is a function of ], or that it uses the concept of "whiteness" as a proxy for class or other social privilege or as a distraction from deeper underlying problems of inequality.<ref name=Arnesen>Eric Arnesen, "Whiteness and the Historians’ Imagination", ''International Labor and Working-Class History'' 60, October 2001; accessed .</ref><ref name="Hartigan, 2005 pp. 1">Hartigan, ''Odd Tribes'' (2005), pp. 1–2.</ref> Other critics of the idea propose alternate definitions of whiteness and exceptions to or limits of white identity, arguing that the concept of "white privilege" ignores important differences between white subpopulations.<ref name="uws.edu.au">{{cite journal |last1=Forrest |first1=James |last2=Dunn |first2=Kevin |title='Core' Culture Hegemony and Multiculturalism |journal=Ethnicities |date=June 2006 |volume=6 |number=2 |doi=10.1177/1468796806063753 |url=http://www.uws.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/29645/A23.pdf }}</ref><ref name="Blum 309–321">{{cite journal|last=Blum|first=L.|title=`White privilege': A mild critique1|journal=]|date=1 November 2008|volume=6|issue=3|pages=309–321|publisher=SAGE Publications|doi=10.1177/1477878508095586|accessdate=9 December 2012}}</ref> | |||
| ==History of the concept== | |||
| In his 1935 '']'', ] introduced the concept of a “]” for white laborers. This special status, he argued, divided the labor movement by leading low-wage white workers to feel superior to low-wage black workers.<ref name=DuBois/> Du Bois identified ] as a global phenomenon, affecting the social conditions across the world by means of colonialism.<ref name=Leonardo>Zeus Leonardo, "The Souls of White Folk: critical pedagogy, whiteness studies, and globalization discourse", ''Race Ethnicity and Education'' 5(1), 2002; accessed , {{DOI|10.1080/13613320120117180}}</ref> For instance, Du Bois wrote: | |||
| <blockquote>It must be remembered that the white group of laborers, while they received a low wage, were compensated in part by a sort of public and psychological wage. They were given public deference and titles of courtesy because they were white. They were admitted freely with all classes of white people to public functions, public parks, and the best schools. The police were drawn from their ranks, and the courts, dependent on their votes, treated them with such leniency as to encourage lawlessness. Their vote selected public officials, and while this had small effect upon the economic situation, it had great effect upon their personal treatment and the deference shown them. White schoolhouses were the best in the community, and conspicuously placed, and they cost anywhere from twice to ten times as much per capita as the colored schools. The newspapers specialized on news that flattered the poor whites and almost utterly ignored the Negro except in crime and ridicule.<ref name=DuBois>W. E. B. Du Bois, ''Black Reconstruction in America, 1860–1880'' (New York: Free Press, 1995 reissue of 1935 original), pp. 700–701. ISBN 0-684-85657-3.</ref></blockquote> | |||
| In 1965, drawing from that insight, and inspired by the Civil Rights movement, ] began a forty-year analysis of “white skin privilege,” ”white race” privilege, and “white” privilege in a call he drafted for a “John Brown Commemoration Committee” that urged “White Americans who want government of the people” and “by the people” to “begin by first repudiating their white skin privileges.”<ref>Theodore W. Allen, "A Call . . . John Brown Memorial Pilgrimage . . . December 4, 1965," John Brown Commemoration Committee, 1965 and Jeffrey B. Perry, "The Developing Conjuncture and Some Insights from Hubert Harrison and Theodore W. Allen on the Centrality of the Fight against White Supremacy," "Cultural Logic" 2010, at http://clogic.eserver.org/2010/2010.html</ref> The pamphlet, "White Blindspot," containing one essay by Allen and one by Noel Ignatin (]), published in the late 1960s, focused on the struggle against "white skin privilege” and significantly influenced the ] and sectors of the ]. By June 15, 1969, the ''New York Times'' was reporting that the National Office of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was calling “for an all-out fight against ‘white skin privileges.'"<ref>See Noel Ignatin (Ignatiev) and Ted (Theodore W.) Allen, (Detroit: The Radical Education Project and New York: NYC Revolutionary Youth Movement, 1969); Thomas R. Brooks, "New York Times," June 15, 1969, p. 20; and Perry, "The Developing Conjuncture and Some Insights from Hubert Harrison and Theodore W. Allen. . . "</ref> In 1974-1975 Allen extended his analysis to the colonial period with his ground-breaking "Class Struggle and the Origin of Racial Slavery: The Invention of the White Race" in 1974/1975,<ref>Theodore W. Allen, Class Struggle and the Origin of Racial Slavery: The Invention of the White Race (Hoboken: Hoboken Education Project, 1975), republished in 2006 with an "Introduction" by Jeffrey B. Perry at Center for the Study of Working Class Life, SUNY, Stony Brook, at http://clogic.eserver.org/2006/allen.html.</ref> which ultimately grew into his seminal two-volume "The Invention of the White Race" in 1994 and 1997.<ref>Theodore W. Allen, The Invention of the White Race, Vol. I: Racial Oppression and Social Control (New York: Verso, 1994, 2012 ISBN 9781844677696) and Vol. II: The Origin of Racial Oppression in Anglo-America (New York: Verso, 1997, 2012 ISBN 9781844677702).</ref> | |||
| In his historical work Allen maintained: that the “white race” was invented as a ruling class social control formation in the late 17th/early 18th century Anglo-American plantation colonies (principally Virginia and Maryland); that central to this process was the ruling-class plantation bourgeoisie conferring “white race” privileges on European-American working people; that these privileges were not only against the interests of African-Americans, they were also “poison,” “ruinous,” a baited hook, to the class interests of working people; that white supremacy, reinforced by the “white skin privilege,” has been as the main retardant of working-class consciousness in the US; and that struggle for radical social change should direct principal efforts at challenging white supremacy and “white skin privileges.”<ref>Jeffrey B. Perry, "Cultural Logic,’" July 2010, pp. 10-11, 34.</ref> Though Allen’s work influenced Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and sectors of the “new left” and paved the way for “white privilege” and “race as social construct” study, and though he appreciated much of the work that followed, he also raised important questions about developments in those areas.<ref>Theodore W. Allen, , #8, Cultural Logic, I, No. 2 (Spring 1998) and Jeffrey B. Perry, "Cultural Logic,’" July 2010, pp. 8, 80-89.</ref> | |||
| In newspapers and public discourse of 1960s United States, the term “white privilege” was often used to describe white areas under conditions of ]. These and other uses grew out of the era of ] against Black Americans, and reflected the idea that white status could persist despite formal equality.<ref name=Bennett/> In the 1990s, the term came back into public discourse, such as in Robert Jensen's op/ed<ref name="Jensen">Jensen, Robert, "White privilege shapes the U.S.," Baltimore Sun, July 19, 1998, p.C-1. http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/freelance/whiteprivilege.htm</ref> | |||
| The concept of white privilege also came to be used within radical circles for purposes of self-criticism by ] whites. For instance, a 1975 article in ''Lesbian Tide'' criticized the American feminist movement for exhibiting “class privilege” and “white privilege”. Weather Underground leader ], in a 1977 ''Lesbian Tide'' article, wrote: “… by assuming that I was beyond white privilege or allying with male privilege because I understood it, I prepared and led the way for a totally opportunist direction which infected all of our work and betrayed revolutionary principles.”<ref name=Bennett/> The term gained new popularity in academic circles and public discourse after Peggy McIntosh's 1987 essay "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack". McIntosh suggests that ] white people need to understand how racial inequality includes benefits to them as well as disadvantages to others.<ref name=Bennett>Jacob Bennett, "White Privilege: A History of the Concept", Master’s Thesis (approved) at Georgia State University, May 2012.</ref> | |||
| According to Ella L. J. Edmondson Bell and Stella M. Nkomo "most scholars of race relations embrace the use of white privilege".<ref>{{cite book |first1=Ella L. J.|last1=Edmondson |first2=Stella M. |last2=Nkomo |title=Our Separate Ways: Black and White Women and the Struggle for Professional Identity | |||
| |publisher=Harvard Business Review Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-1591391890}}</ref> Sociologists in the American Mosaic Project report widespread belief in the United States that "prejudice and discrimination <nowiki></nowiki> create a form of white privilege." According to their 2003 poll this view was affirmed by 59% of white respondents, 83% of Blacks, and 84% of Hispanics.<ref>{{cite web |work=American Mosaic Project | |||
| |publisher=University of Minnesota | |||
| |url=http://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/uminnesota.pdf | |||
| |title=The Role of Prejudice and Discrimination in Americans’ Explanations of Black Disadvantage and White Privilege | |||
| |year=2006 |accessdate=June 15, 2010| format=PDF}}</ref> | |||
| ==Aspects== | |||
| ===White privilege in critical race theory=== | |||
| Scholars within the ] and sociological studies ] of ], such as Cheryl Harris<ref name="Harris">{{cite journal |first=Cheryl I. |last=Harris|title=Whiteness as Property |journal=Harvard Law Review |volume=106 |issue=8|pages=1709–95 |date=June 1993 |doi=10.2307/1341787 |publisher=Harvard Law Review, Vol. 106, No. 8|jstor=1341787}}</ref> and George Lipsitz,<ref>Lipsitz, ''The Possessive Investment in Whiteness'' (2006).</ref> have argued that "whiteness" has historically been treated more as a form of ] than as a racial characteristic: In other words, as an object which has intrinsic value that must be protected by social and legal institutions. Laws and ] concerning race (from ] and ] constructions that legally separate different races to social prejudices against interracial relationships or mixed communities) serve the purpose of retaining certain advantages and privileges for whites. Because of this, academic and societal ideas about race have tended to focus solely on the disadvantages suffered by ], overlooking the advantageous effects that accrue to whites.<ref name="Lucal">{{cite journal|last=Lucal|first=Betsy|date=July 1996|title=Oppression and Privilege: Toward a Relational Conceptualization of Race|journal=Teaching Sociology|publisher=American Sociological Association|location=Washington, D.C.|volume=24|issue=3|pages=245–55|issn=0092055X|oclc=48950428|doi=10.2307/1318739|jstor=1318739}}</ref> | |||
| ===Whiteness unspoken=== | |||
| From another perspective, white privilege is a way of conceptualizing racial inequalities that focuses on advantages that white people accrue from their position in society as well as the disadvantages that people of color experience.<ref>Williams, ''Constraint of Race'' (2004), p. 11. "Yet, if one wants to fully comprehend why American social policy has developed as it has, whites, too, must directly enter the equation. Although a focus on black disadvantage logically implies a focus on white advantage, the tendency to ignore an explicit rendering of facts about the historical and current advantages of whites tends to minimize them, encouraging confusion about the relative statuses of racial groups, hiding the element of force it takes to maintain white privilege, mystifying the kind of politics necessary to promote it, discouraging whites from understanding the privileges that accompany their own skin color, and encouraging them instead to perceive disadvantages."</ref> | |||
| Dan J. Pence and J. Arthur Fields have observed resistance in the context of education to the idea that white privilege of this type exists, and suggest this resistance stems from a tendency to see inequality as a black or ] issue. One report noted that white students often react to in-class discussions about white privilege with a continuum of behaviors ranging from outright hostility to a "wall of silence."<ref name="Pence">{{cite journal|last=Pence|first=Dan J.|coauthors=Fields, J. Arthur|date=April 1999|title=Teaching about Race and Ethnicity: Trying to Uncover White Privilege for a White Audience|journal=Teaching Sociology|publisher=American Sociological Association|location=Washington, D.C.|volume=27|issue=2|pages=150–8|issn=0092055X|oclc=48950428|doi=10.2307/1318701|jstor=1318701}}</ref> A pair of studies on a broader population by Branscombe ''et al.'' found that framing racial issues in terms of white privilege as opposed to non-white disadvantages can produce a greater degree of racially biased responses from whites who have higher levels of racial identification. Branscombe ''et al.'' demonstrate that framing racial inequality in terms of the privileges of whites increased levels of guilt among white respondents. Those with high racial identification were more likely to give responses which concurred with modern ] attitudes than those with low racial identification.<ref name="Branscombe">{{cite journal|last=Branscombe|first=Nyla R.|coauthors=Schmitt, Michael T.; Schiffhauer, Kristin|date=2006-08-25|title=Racial Attitudes in Response to Thoughts of White Privilege|journal=European Journal of Social Psychology|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.|volume=37|issue=2|pages=203–15|url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/112771384/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0|accessdate=2008-07-19|doi=10.1002/ejsp.348}}</ref> According to the studies' authors these findings suggest that representing inequality in terms of ] disadvantage allows privileged group members to avoid the negative implications of inequality.<ref name="Powell">{{cite journal|last=Powell|first=Adam A.|coauthors=Branscombe, Nyla R.; Schmitt, Michael T.|year=2005|title=Inequality as Ingroup Privilege or Outgroup Disadvantage: The Impact of Group Focus on Collective Guilt and Interracial Attitudes|journal=Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin|publisher=Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.|volume=31|issue=4|pages=508–21|url=http://data.psych.udel.edu/abelcher/Shared%20Documents/6%20General%20Diversity%20Issues%20%2815%29/Powell.pdf |accessdate=2013-04-15|doi=10.1177/0146167204271713|pmid=15743985}}</ref> | |||
| === Privileges vs. Rights === | |||
| The notion of white privilege raises the question of the difference between rights and privileges. ] rejects the idea of white privilege, arguing that the privileges from which whites as a group are supposed to benefit are, in fact, social goods to which all people aspire. As such, he writes, they are not privileges: | |||
| :"A privilege is something that not everyone needs, but a right is the opposite. Given this distinction, an insidious dimension of the white-privilege argument emerges. It requires condemning whites for possessing, in the concrete, features of contemporary life that should be available to all, and if this is correct, how can whites be expected to give up such things? Yes, there is the case of the reality of whites being the majority population in all the sites of actual privilege from prestigious universities to golf clubs and boards of directors for most high-powered corporations. But even ''among whites'' as a group, how many whites have ''those'' opportunities?"<ref name=GordonWWLL>] (2004). Critical reflections on three popular tropes in the study of whiteness. In G. Yancy (Ed.), ''What White Looks like: African-American Philosophers on the Whiteness Question'' (pp. 173-280). Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=9wZo92f1EMIC</ref> | |||
| Viewing whites as universally privileged constructs "a reality that has nothing to do with lived experience" of the majority of whites, who themselves do not have access to elite institutions.<ref name=GordonWWLL /> Their "daily, means-to-means subsistence" is a right, of which it makes no sense to feel guilty.<ref name=GordonWWLL /> Naomi Zack similarly criticizes the term ''white privilege'' as a misunderstanding of the difference between privileges and rights. Discrimination against nonwhites does not create a privilege in the normal sense of the term, a "specifically granted absolute advantage," a "prerogative or exception granted to an individual or special group."<ref name=NaomiZackWI>Zack, N. (2004). White Ideas. In C. J. Cuomo and K. Q. Hall (Eds.), ''Whiteness: Feminist philosophical reflections'' (pp. 77-84). Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=W-k7cl5ABOkC</ref> In the United States, Zack writes, discussion of "white privilege" distracts from the discussion of social exclusion of nonwhites, which is the origin of racial disparities.<ref name=NaomiZackWI /> | |||
| ===Limitations=== | |||
| {{POV-section|date=December 2012}} | |||
| According to James Forrest and Kevin Dunn, the privileges of being white might accrue largely to certain white ethnic and cultural groups, as opposed to white people as a whole.<ref name="uws.edu.au"/> Adam A. Powell, Nyla R. Branscombe, and Michael T. Schmitt argue that people in the least successful white ethnic and cultural groups are often the ones that are disadvantaged the most from any ] that attempts to take into account white privilege.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Powell |first1=Adam A. |last2= Branscombe |first2=Nyla R. |last3=Schmitt |first3=Michael T. |title=Inequality as Ingroup Privilege or Outgroup Disadvantage: The Impact of Group Focus on Collective Guilt and Interracial Attitudes |journal=Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |date=April 2005 |volume=31 |number=4 |doi=10.1177/0146167204271713 |url=http://data.psych.udel.edu/abelcher/Shared%20Documents/6%20General%20Diversity%20Issues%20(15)/Powell.pdf |pmid=15743985}}</ref> | |||
| Lawrence Blum, Professor of Philosophy writes that white privilege analysis has been too narrow in its focus. Specifically it has failed to acknowledge important ethnic differences, especially among whites. And it has not adequately distinguished between "spared injustice, unjust enrichment and non-injustice-related" privileges.<ref name="Blum 309–321"/> | |||
| The idea that white privilege has functioned as a social tool to divide white and black workers has proved particularly controversial. A ] critique of this perspective argues that racial differences are secondary to economic difference, and that white privilege is therefore secondary to class privilege. According to this view, analyzing white privilege is misguided because it distracts from class struggle.<ref>Alan Sawyer, "", ''Proletarian Cause'', September 1972.</ref> Historian Eric Arnesen has challenged this understanding of "whiteness" as ill-constructed ]. Arnesen calls whiteness a "moving target" in historical studies, writing: "Whiteness is, variously, a metaphor for power, a proxy for racially distributed material benefits, a synonym for “white supremacy,” an epistemological stance defined by power, a position of invisibility or ignorance, and a set of beliefs about racial “Others” and oneself that can be rejected through “treason” to a racial category." Arnesen disagrees with the idea that white privilege divided the labor movement, as well as with the underlying concept of inherent labor unity, arguing that many types of difference have divided the working class.<ref name="Arnesen"/> | |||
| Arnesen's arguments about race and organized labor form the basis for a larger argument about "white privilege" as a concept in the social sciences. Arnesen also rejects the idea of a basic connection between the identity of whiteness and the ideology of white supremacy.<ref name=Arnesen/> The "white privilege" concept creates the image of a person so favored by society that they are unaware of unfairness and domination—yet this may not be the experience of all people with "white skin".<ref>Hartigan, ''Odd Tribes'' (2005), p. 241.</ref> | |||
| The label "]", in particular, has been described as marking off a lower limit of white privilege in the social hierarchy. In the words of anthropologist John Hartigan: "White trash, a lurid stereotype and debasing racial epithet, applies to poor whites whose subordination by class is extreme. This charged label is a reminder that there are important class dimensions to whiteness and that whites are not uniformly privileged and powerful."<ref name="Hartigan, 2005 pp. 1"/> Hartigan also cites "]" and "]" as contemporary terms that connote whiteness but not privilege.<ref>Hartigan, ''Odd Tribes'' (2005), p. 148.</ref> | |||
| Conversely, there is discussion about whether members of a “]”, such as ]s can enjoy “white privilege”, or something like it, despite their non-European ancestry.<ref name=Leonardo/> | |||
| Arnesen has also argued that some claims about the psychology of whiteness and white privilege are difficult to prove—or even wrong. He compares whiteness studies with Freudian psychoanalysis because of its rigid pre-determined structure.<ref name=Arnesen/> | |||
| ==Global== | |||
| White privilege functions differently in different places. A person's white skin will not be an asset to them in every conceivable place or situation. White people are also a global minority, and this fact affects the experiences they have outside of their home areas. Nevertheless, some people who use the term "white privilege" describe it as a worldwide phenomenon, resulting from the history of colonialism by white Europeans. One author argues that American white men are privileged almost everywhere in the world, even though many countries have never been colonized by Europeans.<ref>], "", ''The Guardian'', 19 September 2003.</ref><ref>Merry M. Merryfield, "Why aren't teachers being prepared to teach for diversity, equity, and global interconnectedness? A study of lived experiences in the making of multicultural and global educators", ''Teaching and Teacher Education'' 16(4), May 2000; accessed . "Although white, middle class Americans may experience outsider status as expatriates in another country, there are few places on the planet where white male Americans are not privileged through their language, relative wealth and global political power."</ref> | |||
| In some accounts, global white privilege is related to ] and ].<ref>Melanie E. L. Bush, "", ''ACRAWSA e-journal'' , 2010.</ref> | |||
| ==In the United States== | |||
| === History === | |||
| Some scholars attribute the informal racism of white privilege to the formal racism (i.e. ] followed by ]) that existed for much of American history.<ref>Williams, ''Constraint of Race'' (2004).</ref> In her book ''Privilege Revealed: How Invisible Preference Undermines America'', Stephanie M. Wildman writes that many Americans who advocate a merit-based, race-free worldview do not acknowledge the systems of privilege which have benefited them. For example, many Americans rely on a social or financial inheritance from previous generations, an inheritance unlikely to be forthcoming if one's ancestors were slaves.<ref name="Wildman">{{cite book|last=Wildman|first=Stephanie M.|coauthors=Armstrong, Margalynne; Davis, Adrienne D.; Grillo, Trina;|title=Privilege Revealed: How Invisible Preference Undermines America|publisher=NYU Press|location=New York|year=1996|isbn=0-8147-9303-7|url=http://books.google.com/?id=LK-aQDstH6kC&dq=Privilege+Revealed:+How+Invisible+Preference+Undermines+America&printsec=frontcover|accessdate=2008-07-19}}</ref> Whites were sometimes afforded opportunities and benefits that were unavailable to others. In the middle of the 20th century, the government subsidized white homeownership through the ], but not homeownership by minorities.<ref name="Massey">{{cite book|last=Massey|first=Douglas|coauthors=Denton, Nancy|title=American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass|publisher=Harvard University Press|date=1998-01-15|isbn=0-674-01821-4|accessdate=2008-07-19}}</ref> Some social scientists also suggest that the historical processes of ] and decentralization are instances of white privilege that have contributed to contemporary patterns of ].<ref name="Pulido">{{cite journal|last=Pulido|first=Laura|date=March 2000|title=Rethinking Environmental Racism: White Privilege and Urban Development in Southern California|journal=Annals of the Association of American Geographers|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|volume=90|issue=1|pages=12–40|issn=0004-5608|url=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/anna/2000/00000090/00000001/art00002;jsessionid=3rmbt81dt5utk.alice|accessdate=2008-07-19|doi=10.1111/0004-5608.00182|format= – <sup></sup>}} {{Dead link|date=May 2009}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> | |||
| ===Wealth=== | |||
| According to Roderick Harrison "wealth is a measure of cumulative advantage or disadvantage" and "the fact that black and Hispanic wealth is a fraction of white wealth also reflects a history of discrimination".<ref>"." ''New York Times'' 18 October 2004.</ref> Whites have historically had more opportunities to accumulate wealth.{{citation needed|date=January 2011}} Some of the institutions of wealth creation amongst American citizens were open exclusively to whites{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}. Similar differentials applied to the ] (which excluded agricultural and domestic workers, sectors that then included most black workers),<ref>Ira Katznelson, '''', p. 43</ref> rewards to military officers, and the educational benefits offered to returning soldiers after World War II.<ref>Ira Katznelson, '''', p. 114.</ref> An analyst of the phenomenon, ], professor of law and social policy at Brandeis University argues, "The wealth gap is not just a story of merit and achievement, it's also a story of the historical legacy of race in the United States."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15704759|title=Census Report: Broad Racial Disparities Persist|date=2006-11-14|publisher=MSNBC|accessdate=2008-07-19}}</ref> | |||
| Over the past 40 years, there has been less formal discrimination in America; the inequality in wealth between racial groups however, is still extant.{{citation needed|date=January 2011}} George Lispsitz asserts that because wealthy whites were able to pass along their wealth in the form of inheritances and transformative assets (inherited wealth which lifts a family beyond their own achievements), white{{which|date=December 2010}} Americans continually accrue advantages.<ref name="LispsitzInheritance">"Young whites can often rely on gifts and bequests from family members for transformative assets that help build wealth ... One in four white families receives a bequest upon the death of a relative compared with only one in twenty black families." George Lipsitz, ''Possessive Investment in Whiteness'' (2006), p. 107-08.</ref> Pre-existing disparities in wealth are exacerbated by tax policies that reward investment over waged income, subsidize mortgages, and subsidize private sector developers.<ref name="Lipsitz">{{cite journal|last=Lipsitz|first=George|date=September 1995|title=The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: Racialized Social Democracy and the "White" Problem in American Studies|journal=American Quarterly|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press|volume=47|issue=3|pages=369–87|doi=10.2307/2713291|jstor=2713291}}</ref> | |||
| Thomas Shapiro argues that wealth is passed along from generation to generation, giving whites a better "starting point" in life than other races. According to Shapiro, many whites receive financial assistance from their parents allowing them to live beyond their income. This, in turn, enables them to buy houses and major assets which aid in the accumulation of wealth. Since houses in white neighborhoods appreciate faster, even African Americans who are able to overcome their "starting point" are unlikely to accumulate wealth as fast as whites. Shapiro asserts this is a continual cycle from which whites consistently benefit.<ref name="Shapiro">{{cite book |first=Thomas M. |last=Shapiro |title=The Hidden Cost of Being African American; How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-518138-8|date=2003-12-12}}</ref> These benefits also have effects on schooling and other life opportunities.{{Citation needed|date=June 2010}} | |||
| ], co-director of the SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum, posits that white people in the United States can be sure that race is not a factor when they are audited by the IRS.<ref name="Unpacking"/> | |||
| === Justice === | |||
| {{expand section|date=December 2010}} | |||
| A 2002 ] survey found that, although the likelihood of being ] by police did not differ significantly between white drivers and other races, black or Latino drivers were three times more likely to be searched than white drivers.<ref>Matthew R. Durose, Erica L. Schmitt and Patrick A. Langan, Contacts Between Police and the Public: Findings from the 2002 National Survey. U.S. Department of Justice, (Bureau of Justice Statistics), April 2005.</ref> Young white offenders are likely to receive lighter punishments than minorities in America. Black youth arrested for drug possession for the first time are incarcerated at a rate that is forty-eight times greater than the rate for white youth.<ref>"Young White Offenders get lighter treatment", 2000. The Tennessean. April 26: 8A.</ref><ref>Human Rights Watch, 2000. Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs. DC: May, Volume 12, No. 2.</ref> Incarceration rates are much higher among blacks and Hispanics than among whites. In 2007, the incarceration rate was 4,618 per 100,000 for black men and 1,747 per 100,000 for Hispanic men, compared to 773 per 100,000 for white men.<ref>William J. Sabol and Heather Couture, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison Inmates at Midyear 2007 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, June 2008), NCJ221944, p. 8 | |||
| </ref> ]s, however, have lower incarceration rates than any other racial group, including whites.<ref>{{cite web|title=Book Review: Asian-American Prisoners|url=http://www.colorlines.com/archives/2009/10/book_review_asianamerican_prisoners.html|publisher=ColorLines.com|last=Bennett|first=Hans|date=October 22, 2009|accessdate=August 10, 2013}}</ref> Pat K. Chew & Robert E. Kelley found that the federal judiciary remains predominantly White at 83% versus 17% minority composition. Judge and plaintiff race play a role in judicial decision making.<ref>http://www3.law.harvard.edu/journals/hjrej/files/2012/11/HBK1021.pdf</ref> | |||
| === Employment and economics === | |||
| Report 1025, June 2010.</ref>]] | |||
| Racialized employment networks can benefit whites at the expense of non-white minorities.<ref name="Royster">{{cite book |first=Deirdre A. |last=Royster |title=Race and the Invisible Hand |location=Los Angeles |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-23951-2 |year=2003}}</ref> Asian-Americans, for example, although lauded as a "model minority" by the white majority in the 1970s, often face an upper limit on what they can achieve in the workplace: only 8 of the Fortune 500 companies have Asian-American CEOs, making up 1.6% of CEO positions while Asian-Americans are 4.8% of the population.<ref name="Diversity Inc">{{citation |url=http://www.insightintodiversity.com/asian-americans-in-leadership-the-invisible-minority-by-dr-edna-chun|title=Asian Americans In Leadership: The Invisible Minority - By Dr. Edna Chun}}</ref> In a study published in 2003, sociologist Deirdre A. Royster compared black and white males who graduated from the same school with the same skills. In looking at their success with school-work transition and working experiences, she found that white graduates were more often employed in skilled trades, earned more, held higher status positions, received more promotions and experienced shorter periods of unemployment. Since all other factors were similar, the differences in employment experiences were attributed to race. Royster concluded that the primary cause of these racial differences was due to ]. The concept of "who you know" seemed just as important to these graduates as "what you know." | |||
| Since older white males predominantly control blue-collar trades, they are more likely to offer varying forms of assistance to those in their social network, often other whites.{{Citation needed|reason=unsubstantiated claim|date=July 2012}} Assistance can be anything from job vacancy information, referrals, direct job recruitment, formal and informal training, and vouching behavior and leniency in supervision.{{Citation needed|reason=speculation by author without source|date=July 2012}} Royster argues that this assistance, disproportionately available to whites, is an advantage that often puts black men at a disadvantage in the employment sector. According to Royster, "these ideologies provide a contemporary deathblow to working-class black men's chances of establishing a foothold in the traditional trades."<ref name="Royster" /> | |||
| This concept is similar to the theory created by ] which analyzes the importance of social networking and ] with his paper ''"The Strength of Weak Ties"'' and his other economic sociology work. | |||
| Other research shows that there is a correlation between a person's name and his or her likelihood of receiving a call back for a job interview. Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan found in field experiment in Boston and Chicago that people with "white-sounding" names are 50% more likely to receive a call back than people with "black-sounding" names, despite equal résumé quality between the two racial groups.<ref name="Bertrand">{{cite journal|last=Bertrand|first=Marianne |coauthors=Mullainathan, Sendhil|date=September 2004|title=Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment in Labor Market Discrimination|journal=American Economic Review|volume=94|issue=4|pages=991–1013|url=http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/0002828042002561|doi=10.1257/0002828042002561|accessdate=2008-07-18}}</ref> White Americans are more likely than black Americans to have their business loan applications approved, even when other factors such as credit records are comparable.<ref name="Bates">{{cite book|last=Bates|first=Timothy|coauthors=Austin Turner, Margery |title=Minority Business Development: Identification and Measurement of Discriminatory Barriers|editor=Fix, Michael E.; Austin Turner, Margery |publisher=Urban Institute|location=Washington, D.C|date=March 1998|series=A National Report Card on Discrimination in America: The Role of Testing|chapter=5|isbn=978-0-87766-696-7|url=http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=308024|accessdate=2008-07-18}} at p. 104</ref> | |||
| Black and Latino college graduates are less likely than white graduates to end up in a management position even when other factors such as age, experience, and academic records are similar.<ref name="Williams">Williams, ''Constraint of Race'' (2004), p. 359, fig. 7.1.</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Income Gaps Persist Among Races|last=Hartnett|first=William M.|date=2003-10-20|publisher=Palm Beach Post}}</ref><ref name="Mason">{{cite journal|last=Mason|first=Patrick L.|date=May–June 1998|title=Race, Cognitive Ability, and Wage Inequality|journal=Challenge|volume=41|issue=3|pages=62–81|issn=1077193X |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1093/is_n3_v41/ai_20809842|accessdate=2008-07-18}}</ref> | |||
| Cheryl Harris relates whiteness to the idea of "racialized privilege" in the article ''Whiteness as Property:'' she describes it as "a type of status in which white racial identity provided the basis for allocating societal benefits both private and public and character."<ref>{{cite journal | title = Whiteness as Property | journal = Harvard Law Review | year = 1998 | first = Cheryl | last = Harris | volume = 106 | issue = 8 | pages = 1707–1791 | accessdate = 2013-03-14}}</ref> | |||
| ===Housing=== | |||
| <!-- {{Contradict|about=statistics regarding housing opportunities|date=August 2008}} Statistics can seem as if they contradict themselves, however there doesn't appear to be a contradiction in this section. If one remains, please renew the contradiction request, or feel free to fix it. --> | |||
| Discrimination in housing policies was formalized in 1934 under the Federal Housing Act which provided government credit to private lending for home buyers. Within the Act, the Federal Housing Agency had the authority to channel all the money to white home buyers instead of minorities. The FHA also channeled money away from inner-city neighborhoods after World War II and instead placed it in the hands of white home buyers who would move into segregated suburbs.<ref>{{cite book |first=Paula S. |last=Rothenberg |year=2005 |title=White Privilege |location=New York |publisher=Worth Publishers |isbn=0-7167-8733-4}}</ref> These practices and others, intensified attitudes of segregation and inequality. | |||
| But "most white families have acquired their net worth from the appreciation of property that they secured under conditions of special privilege in a discriminatory housing market."<ref>{{cite book |first=Paula S. |last=Rothenberg |year=2005 |title=White Privilege |location=New York |publisher=Worth Publishers |page=77 |isbn=0-7167-8733-4}}</ref> This net worth accumulation assists in placing whites in more favorable conditions to receive low interest loans, mortgages and financial assistance in the housing market. | |||
| Chip Smith paints a quick picture of some additional ways he views whites as privileged:<ref>{{cite book |first=Chip |last=Smith |year=2007 |title=The Cost of Privilege |location= Largo, Maryland |publisher=Linemark Printing, Inc.|isbn=0-9791828-0-8}}</ref> | |||
| *Whites are offered more choices; 60%–90% of housing units shown to whites are not brought to the attention of blacks. | |||
| *72.1% of whites own their own home opposed to 48.1% for African Americans | |||
| *46% of whites had help from their family in making down payments on homes compared to 12% for African Americans | |||
| *Whites are half as likely to be turned down for a mortgage or home improvement loan | |||
| *Whites pay on average a 8.12% interest rate on their mortgage, lower than the 8.44% African Americans pay on average | |||
| *The median home equity for whites is $58,000 compared to $40,000 for African Americans | |||
| === Education === | |||
| According to Wildman, education policies in the US have contributed to the construction and reinforcement of white privilege.<ref>Wildman, Stephanie M. "The Persistence of White Privilege." 18 March 2010. <>.</ref> Wildman argues that even schools that appear to be integrated often segregate students based on abilities. This can increase white students' initial educational advantage, magnifying the "unequal classroom experience of African American students" and minorities.<ref>{{cite book |first=Thomas |last=Shapiro |year=2004 |title=The Hidden Cost of Being African American; How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=144 |isbn=978-0-19-518138-8}}</ref> | |||
| It is argued{{by whom|date=August 2013}} that the material that black and other minority children are tested on in school is often culturally biased, not taking into consideration dialect and other differences between populations. Williams and Rivers (1972b) showed that test instructions in Standard English disadvantaged the black child and that if the language of the test is put in familiar labels without training or coaching, the child's performances on the tests increase significantly.<ref>Williams, R.L. and Rivers, L.W. (1972b). The use of standard and nonstandard English in testing black children. As presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association</ref> According to Cadzen a child's language development should be evaluated in terms of his progress toward the norms for his particular speech community.<ref>Cadzen, C.B. (1966). Subcultural Differences in Child Language: An Inter-disciplinary Review. Merrill–Palmer Quarterly, 1966, 12 pp. 185–214</ref> Other studies using sentence repetition tasks found that, at both third and fifth grades, white subjects repeated Standard English sentences significantly more accurately than black subjects, while black subjects repeated nonstandard English sentences significantly more accurately than white subjects.<ref name="Marwit">{{cite journal|last=Marwit|first=Samuel J.|coauthors=Walker, Elaine F.; Marwit, Karen L.|date=December 1977|title=Reliability of Standard English Differences among Black and White Children at Second, Fourth, and Seventh Grades|journal=Child Development|publisher=Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the Society for Research in Child Development|volume=48|issue=4|pages=1739–42|doi=10.2307/1128548|jstor=1128548}}</ref> | |||
| According to Janet E. Helms traditional psychological and academic assessment is based on skills that are considered important within white, western, middle-class culture, but which may not be salient or valued within African-American culture.<ref>Helms, J.E. (1997) The triple quandary of race, culture, and social class in standardized cognitive ability testing. In D.P. Flanagan, J.L. Genshaft, & P.L. Harrison (Eds.), contemporary intellectual assessment: theories, tests, and issues (pp.517–532). New York: Guilford Press.</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Helms | first1 = J.E. | year = 1992 | title = Why is there no study of cultural equivalence in standardized cognitive ability testing? | url = | journal = American Psychologist | volume = 47 | issue = | pages = 1083–1101 }}</ref> When tests' stimuli are more culturally pertinent to the experiences of African Americans, performance improves.<ref>Hayles, V.R. (1991). African American Strengths: a survey of empirical findings. In R.L. Jones (Ed.), Black Psychology (3rd ed., pp. 379–400). Berkeley, California: Cobb & Henry Publishers.</ref><ref>Williams, R.L. and Rivers, L.W. (1972b) The use of standard and nonstandard English in testing black children. A presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association</ref> However, white privilege critics argue that the in K-12 education, students academic progress are measured on nation-wide standardized tests which reflect national standards.<ref>{{cite web|title=Common set of school standards to be proposed|first=Nick|last=Anderson|work=Washington Post|page=A1|date=March 10, 2010}}</ref><ref>But see, {{cite web|url=http://www.fairtest.org/joint%20statement%20civil%20rights%20grps%2010-21-04.html|title= Joint Organizational Statement on No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act|date=2004-10-21|accessdate=2008-01-03}}</ref> | |||
| African Americans are disproportionately sent to ] classes in their schools, identified as being disruptive or suffering from a learning disability. These students are segregated for the majority of the school day, taught by uncertified teachers, and do not receive high school diplomas. Wanda Blanchett has argued that white students have consistently privileged interactions with the special education system, which provides ‘non-normal’ whites with the resources they need to benefit from the mainline white educational structure.<ref>Wanda J. Blanchett, "Disproportionate Representation of African American Students in Special Education: Acknowledging the Role of White Privilege and Racism", ''Educational Researcher'' 35(24), 2006; accessed , {{DOI|10.3102/0013189X035006024}}</ref> | |||
| Educational inequality is also a consequence of housing. Since most states determine school funding based on property taxes,{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} schools in wealthier neighborhoods receive more funding per student.{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} As home values in white neighborhoods are higher than minority neighborhoods,{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} local schools receive more funding via property taxes. This will ensure better technology in predominantly white schools, smaller class sizes and better quality teachers, giving white students opportunities for a better education.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Erin E. |last=Kelly |year=1995 |title=All Students Are Not Created Equal: The Inequitable Combination of Property Tax-Based School Finance Systems and Local Control |journal=Duke Law Journal |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=397–435 |doi=10.2307/1372907 |publisher=Duke Law Journal, Vol. 45, No. 2 |jstor=1372907 }}</ref> The vast majority of schools placed on academic probation as part of district accountability efforts are majority African-American and low-income.<ref>Diamond, John B. & James P. Spillane. (2004) "High Stakes Accountability in Urban Elementary Schools: Challenging or Reproducing Inequality?" Teachers College Record, Special Issue on Testing, Teaching, and Learning. 106(6) 1140–1171.</ref> However, Congress enacted the ] of 2001 to address such school performance disparities. That act provides for a large increase in federal school aid to address property tax disparities and gives parents the right to switch schools if their neighborhood school fails to progress to meet national performance standards. | |||
| Inequalities in wealth and housing allow a higher proportion of white parents the option to move to better school districts or afford to put their children in private schools if they do not approve of the neighborhood's schools.<ref>{{cite book |first=Thomas |last=Shapiro |year=2004 |title=The Hidden Cost of Being African American; How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=157 |isbn=978-0-19-518138-8}}</ref> | |||
| Some studies have claimed that minority students are less likely to be placed in honors classes, even when justified by test scores.<ref>Gordon, Rebecca. 1998. Education and Race. Oakland: Applied Research Center: 48–9; Fischer, Claude S. et al., 1996.</ref><ref>Inequality by Design: Cracking the Bell Curve Myth. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press: 163</ref><ref>] and Barabara Diggs-Brown, 1999. By the Color of Our Skin: The Illusion of Integration and the Reality of Race. NY: Dutton: 95-6.</ref> Various studies have also claimed that visible minority students are more likely than white students to be suspended or expelled from school, even though rates of serious school rule violations do not differ significantly by race.<ref>Skiba, Russell J. et al., The Color of Discipline: Sources of Racial and Gender Disproportionality in School Punishment. Indiana Education Policy Center, Policy Research Report SRS1, June 2000</ref><ref>U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System: Youth 2003, Online Comprehensive Results, 2004.</ref> Adult education specialist Elaine Manglitz argues the educational system in America has deeply entrenched biases in favor of the white majority in evaluation, curricula, and power relations.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Manglitz |first=E |year=2003 |title=Challenging white privilege in adult education: a critical review of the literature |journal=Adult Education Quarterly |issue=2 |pages=119–134 |doi=10.1177/0741713602238907 |volume=53}}</ref> | |||
| In discussing unequal test scores between public school students, opinion columnist Matt Rosenberg laments the Seattle Public Schools' emphasis on "institutional racism" and "white privilege": | |||
| <blockquote> | |||
| The disparity is not simply a matter of color: School District data indicate income, English-language proficiency and home stability are also important correlates to achievement...By promoting the "white privilege" canard and by designing a student indoctrination plan, the Seattle School District is putting retrograde, leftist politics ahead of academics, while the perpetrators of "white privilege" are minimizing the capabilities of minorities.<ref name="STRosen">Rosenberg, Matt (2007-04-11), "Putting politics ahead of kids". ''The Seattle Times'', .</ref></blockquote> | |||
| ] scholar and opponent of affirmative action programs, ] at the ], believes that the effects of white privilege are exaggerated. Steele argues that blacks may incorrectly blame their personal failures on white oppression. He also argues that there are many "minority privileges": "If I'm a black high school student today... there are white American institutions, universities, hovering over me to offer me opportunities: Almost every institution has a ] committee... There is a hunger in this society to do right racially, to not be racist."<ref name=abc>{{cite news|title=Does White Privilege Exist in America? Scholars Debate Whether Society Overlooks Minorities|url=http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2629192&page=1|date=2006-11-05|author=Stossel, John|authorlink=John Stossel|coauthors=Binkley, Gena|publisher=] (])}}</ref> | |||
| Anthony P. Carnevale and Jeff Strohl show that whites have a better opportunity at getting into selective schools, while African Americans and Hispanics usually end up going to open access schools and have a lower chance of receiving a Bachelor's Degree.<ref>http://www9.georgetown.edu/grad/gppi/hpi/cew/pdfs/Separate&Unequal.FR.pdf</ref> | |||
| === Military === | |||
| In a 2013 news story, Fox News reported, "A controversial 600-plus page manual used by the military to train its ] officers teaches that "healthy, white, heterosexual, Christian" men hold an unfair advantage over other races, and warns in great detail about a so-called "White Male Club." ... The manual, which was obtained by Fox News, also instructs troops to “support the leadership of people of color. Do this consistently, but not uncritically,” the manual states."<ref>" ," Fox News, October 31, 2013.</ref> | |||
| == In South Africa == | |||
| ] | |||
| White privilege was legally enshrined in South Africa through ], which lasted formally into the 1990s. Under apartheid, racial privilege was not only socially meaningful—it became bureaucratically regulated. Laws such as the 1950 ] established criteria to officially classify South Africans by race: White, Coloured (mixed), or Black.<ref>Deborah Posel, "Race as Common Sense: Racial Classification in Twentieth-Century South Africa", ''African Studies Review'' 44 (2), September 2001; accessed .</ref> | |||
| Many scholars argue that 'whiteness' still corresponds to a set of social advantages in South Africa, and conventionally refer to these advantages as "white privilege". The system of white privilege applies both to the way an individual is treated by others and to a set of behaviors, affects, and thoughts, which can be learned and reinforced. These elements of "whiteness" establish social status and guarantee advantages for some people, without directly relying on skin color or other aspects of a person's appearance.<ref name=Vice/> White privilege in South Africa has small-scale effects, such as preferential treatment for people who appear white in public, and large-scale effects, such as the over-fivefold difference in average per-capita income for people identified as white or black.<ref>Sally Matthews, "", ''Mail & Guardian'', 12 September 2011.</ref> | |||
| "] whiteness" has also been described as a partially subordinate identity, relative to the ], "disgraced" further by the end of apartheid.<ref>Melissa E. Steyn, "Rehabilitating a whiteness disgraced: Afrikaner white talk in post‐apartheid South Africa", ''Communication Quarterly'' 52(2); accessed , {{DOI|10.1080/01463370409370187}}</ref> Some white South Africans fear that they will suffer from "]" at the hands of the country's newly empowered majority.<ref>Samantha Vice, "", ''Mail & Guardian'', 2 September 2011.</ref> | |||
| ==In Europe== | |||
| {{expand section|date=December 2012}} | |||
| Commenting on the ] trial, Priyamvada Gopal of Cambridge wrote that while Black and Muslim aggression in white societies is widely seen as ] reflecting problems in society, white terrorism is treated radically different due to the invisibility of whiteness.<ref>{{cite news |title=How privilege-blindness stops us understanding the roots of terrorism |author=Priyamvada Gopal |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/14/privilege-blindness-roots-of-terrorism |newspaper=The Guardian |date=14 August 2012 |accessdate=13 December 2012}}</ref> | |||
| ==In Australia== | |||
| ] intended to maintain white supremacy in Australia]] | |||
| White privilege in Australia parallels the pattern of dominance seen elsewhere in colonialism. ] were excluded from the process of creating the Australian Federation, and its early laws restricted the freedoms for people of colour. Indigenous people were governed by an "Aborigines Protection Board" as a separate class of citizens.<ref name=Perera2005>Suvendrini Perera, "", ''Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association Journal'' , 2005</ref> | |||
| Some ] report feeling discriminated against, for example by shopkeepers and real estate agents. Holly Randell-Moon has claimed that news media are geared towards white people and their interests and that this is an example of white privilege.<ref>Deirdre Howard-Wagner, "" in ''The Future of Sociology'', ed. Lockie et al., Australian Sociological Association, December 2009.</ref> Michele Lobo claims that white neighborhoods are normally identified as "good quality", while "ethnic" neighborhoods may become stigmatized, degraded, and neglected.<ref name=Lobo>Michele Lobo, "Re-Imagining Citizenship in Suburban Australia", ''ACRAWSA e-journal'' 6(1), 2010.</ref> | |||
| Some scholars claim white people are seen presumptively as "Australian", and as prototypical citizens.<ref name=Lobo/><ref name=Ganley/> Catherine Koerner has claimed that a major part of white Australian privilege is the ability to be in Australia itself, and that this is reinforced by, discourses on non-white outsiders including ] and ].<ref>Catherine Koerner, "", ''''ACRAWSA e-journal'' , 2010.</ref> | |||
| Some scholars have suggested that public displays of ], such as the celebration of artwork and stories of ], amount to ], since indigenous Australians voices are largely excluded from the cultural ] surrounding the history of colonialism and the narrative of European colonizers as peaceful settlers. These scholars suggest that white privilege in Australia, like white privilege elsewhere, involves the ability to define the limits of what can be included in a "multicultural" society.<ref>{{cite web|last=Larbalestier|first=Jan|title=White Over Black: Discourses of Whiteness in Australian Culture|url=http://www.borderlands.net.au/vol3no2_2004/larbalestier_white.htm|work=Borderlands e-Journal|accessdate=9 November 2012}}</ref><ref>Deirdre Howard-Wagner, "'", TASA Conference, December 2006.</ref><ref>Maryrose Casey, "", ''Critical Race and Whiteness Studies'' , 2012.</ref> Indigenous studies in Australian universities remains largely controlled by white people, hires many white professors, and does not always embrace political changes that benefit indigenous people.<ref>Brownwyn Fredericks, "", ''ACRAWSA e-journal'' , 2009.</ref><ref>Jo Lampert, "", ''Social Alternatives'' 22(3), 2003.</ref><ref name=Hart2003>Victor Hart, "", ''Social Alternatives'' 22(3), 2003.</ref><ref>Andrew Gunstone, "", ''ACRAWSA e-journal'' 5(1), 2009.</ref> Some scholars also argue that prevailing modes of Western epistemology and pedagogy, associated with the dominant white culture, are treated as universal while Indigenous perspectives are excluded or treated only as objects of study.<ref name=Hart2003/><ref>Lester-Irabinna Rigney, "", ''Kaurna Higher Education Journal'' 7, August 2001.</ref><ref>Aileen Moreton-Robinson, "Whiteness, epistemology, and indigenous representation", in ''Whitening Race: Essays In Social And Cultural Criticism'', ed. Aileen Moreton-Robinson, Aboriginal Studies Press, 2004. ISBN 9780855754655.</ref><ref>Ben Kelly and Nura Gili, "", ''Australian Social Policy Conference'', 2009.</ref> One Australian university professor reports that white students may perceive indigenous academics as beneficiaries of ].<ref name=Nicoll>Fiona Nicoll, "", ''Borderlands'' 3(2), 2004.</ref> | |||
| Some scholars have claimed that for Australian whites, another aspect of privilege is the ability to identify with a global diaspora of other white people in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. This privilege contrasts with the separation of Indigenous Australians from other indigenous peoples in southeast Asia.<ref name=Perera2005/><ref>Holly Randell-Moon, "", ''Critical Race and Whiteness Studies'' , 2012.</ref> They also claim that global political issues such as climate change are framed in terms of white actors and effects on countries that are predominantly white.<ref>Lars Jensen, "", ''Journal of the European Association of Studies on Australia'' 2(2), 2011.</ref> | |||
| White privilege varies across places and situations. Ray Minniecon, director of Crossroads Aboriginal Ministries, described the city of ] specifically as "the most alien and inhospitable place of all to Aboriginal culture and people."<ref>Ray Minniecon, "", ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 17 February 2004; quoted by Suvendrini Perera, "", ''ACRAWSA e-journal'' , 2007.</ref> At the other end of the spectrum, anti-racist white Australians working with Indigenous people may experience their privilege as painful "stigma".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kowal|first=Emma|title=THE STIGMA OF WHITE PRIVILEGE|journal=Cultural Studies|date=1 May 2011|volume=25|issue=3|pages=313–333|doi=10.1080/09502386.2010.491159}}</ref> | |||
| Studies of white privilege in Australia have increased since the late 1990s, with several books published on the history of how whiteness became a dominant identity. Aileen Moreton-Robinson's ''Talkin' Up to the White Woman'' is a critique of unexamined white privilege in the Australian feminist movement.<ref name=Ganley>Toby Ganley, "", ''Dialogue'' 1(2), 2003.</ref> The Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association formed in 2005 to study racial privilege and promote respect for Indigenous sovereignties; it publishes an online journal called ''Critical Race and Whiteness Studies''.<ref>"ACRAWSA: About", ''Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association'', updated 30 January 2012; accessed 19 November 2012.</ref> | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| {{colbegin}} | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| {{colend}} | |||
| ==Notes== | |||
| {{Reflist|group="note"| | |||
| refs= <ref name="definition" group="note">Definitions of white privilege, as with many terms, vary from source to source. The following is a partial list of definitions: | |||
| *"Experts define White privilege as a combination of exclusive standards and opinions that are supported by Whites in a way that continually reinforces social distance between groups on the basis of power, access, advantage, majority status, control, choice, autonomy, authority, possessions, wealth, opportunity, materialistic acquisition, connection, access, preferential treatment, entitlement, and social standing (Hays & Chang, 2003; Manning & Baruth, 2009)." | |||
| ::{{mdash}} {{Citation | last = Vang | first = C. T. | title = An educational psychology of methods in multicultural education | publisher = Peter Lang | location = New York | year = 2010 | isbn = 9781433107900 | pages = 36 and 37 }} | |||
| *"McIntosh is adept at describing the daily advantage white people have based on the color of their skin. Wildman (2000) discusses the characteristics of the privileged by saying they "define the societal norm, often benefiting those in the privileged group. Second, privileged group members can rely on their privilege and avoid objecting to oppression" (p. 53). The result of this societal norm is that everyone is required to live by the attributes held by the privileged. In society white people define and determine the terms of success and failure; they are the norm. Thus, "achievements by members of the privileged group are viewed as meritorious and the result of individual effort, rather than as privileged" (p. 53)." | |||
| ::{{mdash}} {{Citation | last1 = Lund | first1 = C. L. | title = The nature of white privilege in the teaching and training of adults | doi = 10.1002/ace.359 | journal = New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education | volume = 2010 | issue = 125 | year = 2010 | page = 18}} | |||
| *"White privilege has been defined by David Wellman as a system of advantage based on race. It has been compared by Peggy McIntosh to an invisible, weightless knapsack of assets and resources that she was given because she was born White in her time and place in U.S. society. Paula Rothenberg defines White privilege as the other side of discrimination, meaning the opposite of discrimination." | |||
| ::{{mdash}} {{Citation | last = Banks | first = J. | title = Encyclopedia of Diversity in Education | publisher = SAGE Publications | location = Thousand Oaks, California | year = 2012 | isbn = 9781412981521 | page = 2300 }} | |||
| *"''White privilege'', specifically, is an institutional set of unearned benefits granted to White people (Kendall, 2001, 2006; McIntosh, 1989; Sue, 2003). Sue (2003) defines White privilege as "unearned advantages and benefits" given to White individuals based on a system that was "normed on the experiences, values, and perceptions" of White individuals (p. 7). McIntosh (1989) characterizes White privilege as "an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was 'meant' to remain oblivious" (p. 10). She likens it to "an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks" (p. 10). Kendall (2006) describes White privilege as "an institutional, rather than personal, set of benefits granted to" (p. 63) people whose race resembles that of the people who are in power." | |||
| ::{{mdash}} {{Citation | editor1-last = Cornish et al. | title = Handbook of multicultural counseling competencies | chapter = Developing Competency with White Identity and Privilege | first1 = J. L. | last1 = Dressel | first2 = S. | last2 = Kerr | first3 = H. B. | last3 = Steven | publisher = John Wiley | location = Hoboken, N.J | year = 2010 | isbn = 9780470437469 }} | |||
| *"White privilege is a form of racism that both underlies and is distinct from institutional and overt racism. It underlies them in that both are predicated on preserving the privileges of white people (regardless of whether agents recognize this or not). But it is also distinct in terms of intentionality. It refers to the hegemonic structures, practices, and ideologies that reproduce whites' privileged status. In this scenario, whites do not necessarily ''intend'' to hurt people of color, but because they are unaware of their white-skin privilege, and because they accrue social and economic benefits by maintaining the status quo, they inevitably do." | |||
| ::{{mdash}} {{Citation| last1 = Pulido | first1 = L. | doi = 10.1111/0004-5608.00182 | title = Rethinking Environmental Racism: White Privilege and Urban Development in Southern California | journal = Annals of the Association of American Geographers | volume = 90 | page = 15 | year = 2000 }} | |||
| </ref> | |||
| }} | |||
| ==References== | |||
| <!-- this 'empty' section displays references defined elsewhere --> | |||
| {{Reflist|2}} | |||
| ===Works cited=== | |||
| * Allen, Theodore W. ''The Invention of the White Race: Racial Oppression and Social Control'' (Verso, 1994) ISBN 0-86091-660-X. | |||
| * Hartigan, John. ''Odd Tribes: Toward a Cultural Analysis of White People''. Duke University Press, 2005. ISBN 9780822335979 | |||
| * Lipsitz, George. ''The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: How White People Profit from Identity Politics'', Revised and Expanded Edition. Temple University Press, 2006. ISBN 1-56639-635-2. | |||
| * ]. "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." (excerpt from Working Paper #189, "White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming To See Correspondence Through Work in Women's Studies" (1988), Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, Wellesley, Massachusetts.) | |||
| * {{cite book|last=Williams|first=Linda Faye|title=The Constraint of Race: Legacies of White Skin Privilege in America|publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press|location=University Park, Pennsylvania|date=2004-08-30|isbn=0-271-02535-2|url=http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-02253-1.html|accessdate=2008-07-18|page=429}} | |||
| ==Further reading== | |||
| {{Further reading cleanup|date=February 2011}} | |||
| * Allen, Theodore W. (Verso Books, 1994, New Expanded Edition 2012, ISBN 9781844677696). | |||
| * Allen, Theodore W. (Verso Books, 1997, New Expanded Edition 2012, ISBN 9781844677702). | |||
| * Allen, Theodore W. A Speech Delivered at a Guardian Forum on the National Question, 28 April 1973, rpt. in "White Supremacy a Collection" (Chicago: Sojourner Truth Organization, 1976. | |||
| * Allen, Theodore W. (1975), republished in 2006 with an "Introduction" by Jeffrey B. Perry at Center for the Study of Working Class Life, SUNY, Stony Brook. | |||
| * Allen, Theodore W. "Cultural Logic," 2001. | |||
| * Berger, Maurice. "White Lies: Race and the Myths of Whiteness" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1999) ISBN 0-374-52715-6 | |||
| * Brown, C.S. (2002). ''Refusing Racism: White allies and the struggle of civil right.'' New York: Teachers College Press. | |||
| * Du Bois, W. E. B. 1920. "The Souls of White Folk", in ''Darkwater'' | |||
| * ]. ''White'' | |||
| * ]. ''Black Skin, White Masks'' | |||
| * Ignatiev, Noel. ''How the Irish Became White'' (Routledge, 1996). ISBN 0-415-91825-1. | |||
| * Ignatin (Ignatiev), Noel and Theodore W. Allen (Detroit: The Radical Education Project and New York: NYC Revolutionary Youth Movement, 1969), co-authored with Noel Ignatin (Ignatiev). | |||
| * Jackson, C. 2006. ''White Anti-Racism: Living the Legacy.'' Retrieved October 31, 2006, from http://www.tolerance.org/teach/activities/activity.jsp?ar=718. | |||
| * {{cite journal | last1 = Levine-Rasky | first1 = C. | year = 2000 | title = Framing whiteness: working through the tensions in introducing whiteness to educators | url = | journal = Race Ethnicity and Education | volume = 3 | issue = 3| pages = 271–292 }} | |||
| * Perry, Jeffrey B., "Cultural Logic,’" July 2010. | |||
| * Roediger, David R. ''The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class'' (Verso, 1991) ISBN 0860913341 9780860913344 0860915506 9780860915508. | |||
| * Roediger, D.R. 2005. ''Working toward whiteness: How America's immigrants became white. The strange journey from Ellis Island to the suburbs.'' New York: Basic Books. | |||
| * Rothenberg, Paula S., ed. ''White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism'' (Worth, 2004) ISBN 0-7167-8733-4. | |||
| * {{Cite journal | doi = 10.1080/13613320500110519 | last1 = Solomona | first1 = R.P. | last2 = Portelli | first2 = J.P. | last3 = Daniel | first3 = B-J. | last4 = Campbell | first4 = A. | year = 2005 | title = The discourse of denial: how white teacher candidates construct race, racism and 'white privilege' | url = | journal = Race Ethnicity and Education | volume = 8 | issue = 2| pages = 147–169 }} | |||
| *{{cite book|title=]|author=Steele, Shelby|publisher=]|date=2006-05-02|isbn=0-06-057862-9}} | |||
| * Steyn, Melissa E., ''Whiteness Just Isn't What Is Used to Be: White Identity in a Changing South Africa'', Albany: SUNY Press, 2001, ISBN 9780791450802. | |||
| * Updegrave, W.L. (1989). Race and money. Money, December 1989,152–72. | |||
| * ]. ''White Like Me'' | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| * (PDF) | |||
| * from the Southern Poverty Law Center. | |||
| * "", Center for Democracy in a Multiracial Society, University of Urbana-Champlain. | |||
| * "", zine compiled for the 2012 NYC Anarchist Bookfair. | |||
| * | |||
| {{White people}} | |||
| {{Racism topics|state=collapsed}} | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:White Privilege}} | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
Revision as of 17:56, 21 January 2014
White privilege is a fictional excuse non white people use when they do not succeed as much as a white person. It is ultimately another form of playing the "race card". In the mind of a non white everything and anything wrong can attributed to them not being white, the notion that maybe they did not try hard enough or spend too much of their money on non necessities never even dances across their minds.