White Privilege

Cyanide comic ... http://explosm.net/comics/4027/

White privilege is subtle and pervasive ...

Enjoy

Hello RAZD! I don't know whether you intended this topic to be a serious discussion of the social definition and application of white privilege or whether the irony of the cartoon was the focus.

Assuming the former, I will comment on this sociological status. As a white male, born into a middle class family, I was brought up unaware of any sort of privileged life. If anything, i sensed a bit of entitlement due to the fact that my father had worked hard to get to his station in life and I felt as if he paved the way for me to have an easy life. The opposite has been the case, but overall my life has been blessed.

Several years ago, a friend of mine who grew up in a minority culture (he is Latino) brought the whole idea of white privilege up to me. Quite naturally I saw it as an attack on me...sort of a reverse discrimination type of thing, and still feel that way, admittedly, from time to time. Quite honestly, i behave quite like the social scientists who write these books say I will behave. Im all for ending discrimination in society, but I'll be damned if i'm going to give up anything that i now have. (pray for me)

Im all for ending discrimination in society, but I'll be damned if i'm going to give up anything that i now have.

No one is asking you or anyone else to “give up” anything.

White privilege and male privilege are social phenomena most white men don’t even know they have. They are not special privileges or special rights per se but are a deferential treatment in society. It is a level of personal and professional respect one receives over others just by being a white male.

This is a white man’s society. The centers of influence and the levers of power are controlled by white men. Our European ancestors brought this form of social structure with them. Men were superior to women so men populated the councils and the courts. This was a majority white culture so whites dominated the councils and the courts.

The issues is, Phat, that after so many centuries this structure is so ingrained in our psyche we don’t even notice when the same level of equal respect and equal treatment is not given to others. There still is a glass ceiling in corporate America that applies to non-whites and non-men. Pay disparity still exists. The “equal pay for equal work” mantra applies to both women and non-whites. From the work place to the courts we treat people of color, often in the most subtle of ways, different than we treat a fellow white male. That is white privilege. That is male privilege. And we white men never even see it. We don’t notice. We’re oblivious that our treatment of "them" in our society is any different then we treat our fellow white men.

The Black Lives Matter movement, like the Black Power and Black Pride memes of the past, is an attempt to get this white male-dominated social construct to see where we continue to be so blind.

The only way to improve all lives in this society is to acknowledge this privilege does exist, learn that there is a disparity in social respect at work in our culture and then be conscious of its subtle forms. White men cannot learn of this or see it operating just by flowing along believing we are color blind or giving, even heart felt, lip service to the notion that “I am not a racist.” These mean nothing and do nothing to affect change.

We need to actively engage gender and racial issues. And the best way for a white man to engage is to listen to the grievances, hear the stories, and pay attention to “them.” Swallow the fear. Don’t argue. Don’t get the dander up. Just open your eyes, shut the fuck up and listen.

Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.

Terms like 'white privilege' or 'male privilege' are nonsense buzzwords invented by brain-dead sociologists to avoid having to do actual analyses or, even worse, think.

Says the privileged white man.

Are you sure of that?

AZPaul3 writes: They are not special privileges or special rights per se but are a deferential treatment in society. It is a level of personal and professional respect one receives over others just by being a white male.

I largely agree with your analysis of white privilege and the need for white men to put away the resentment and paranoia. But the most important and insidious aspect to white privilege is that it doesn't depend on personal bias. Systemic inequities disadvantage nonwhites and women in ways that have nothing to do with interpersonal animus.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's important for white males to examine their unacknowledged biases and be conscientious about the way they address and interact with nonwhites and women. But the larger problem is that the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, mass incarceration and female disenfranchisement have left the playing field so far from level that being really nice to one another isn't going to improve anything at the deeper social level.

Here's what I mean. There's a study going around about the way resumes bearing white-sounding names get picked by personnel recruiters much more often than those with ethnic-sounding names. I don't dispute this finding, and I think there's still a lot of racial bias in hiring and advancement. But the point is that even if there weren't names on the resumes at all, the ones from white candidates are more likely to be chosen because the nonwhite candidates have been disadvantaged in education, experience, credit history, the justice system, and many other factors by which employers assess candidates. Whites have gained advantage in an unfair system, so of course their accomplishments are going to be more considerable.

When the affirmative action program was instituted to try to rectify this unfair advantage, white men raised holy hell over the same perception of "reverse discrimination" that people have mentioned here. Part of white privilege is the resentment of admitting that the white man's supremacy hasn't been earned through fair competition in a meritocracy, but because of inequities which have been constantly reinforced over the course of centuries.

But the most important and insidious aspect to white privilege is that it doesn't depend on personal bias. Systemic inequities disadvantage nonwhites and women in ways that have nothing to do with interpersonal animus.

The effects of white-male privilege permeating through the entire social construct roll up and reinforce the privilege. As you say, the insidious part is we are blind to it happening, it's almost like instinct, we don't even know we're doing it. I consider your message the embodiment to my prelude. Thank you.

Here's what I mean. There's a study going around about the way resumes bearing white-sounding names get picked by personnel recruiters much more often than those with ethnic-sounding names.

I believe I heard this story somewhere on National Public Radio (NPR) a while back.

A guy, whose name IIRC was Jameel, was telling his story. He had applied for a job at some (I believe) college, and they decided they should hire him to diversify their ethnicity. Then they were surprised when a white guy showed up.

No replies needed.

Moose

When the affirmative action program was instituted to try to rectify this unfair advantage, white men raised holy hell over the same perception of "reverse discrimination" that people have mentioned here. Part of white privilege is the resentment of admitting that the white man's supremacy hasn't been earned through fair competition in a meritocracy, but because of inequities which have been constantly reinforced over the course of centuries.

wiki writes: At issue in affirmative action cases is whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment can be employed to advance the welfare of one class of individuals for compelling social reasons even when that advancement may infringe in some way upon the life or liberty of another. The continuing existence of affirmative action laws and programs suggests that so far, the Supreme Court's answer has been yes.

I dont really have an opinion at this time, but would likely be so inclined should such a ruling hinder my life and welfare personally.

Perhaps I need to trust God more.

Phat writes: I dont really have an opinion at this time, but would likely be so inclined should such a ruling hinder my life and welfare personally.

The paragraph of mine you quoted concerned affirmative action, the thrust of which was to try to rememdy systemic inequities in ways that don't hinder the life or welfare of the privileged; in hiring, a white candidate is more likely to be chosen for a job (even in a blind selection process) given the white community's better educational system, access to credit, and less intensive surveillance by law enforcement. If the black candidate is chosen over the white one through affirmative action, the white candidate is still more likely to land a job elsewhere.

Do you feel that systemic inequities exist in the USA? If so, what can be done about them?

White privilege and male privilege are social phenomena most white men don’t even know they have. They are not special privileges or special rights per se but are a deferential treatment in society. It is a level of personal and professional respect one receives over others just by being a white male.

If you don't have to think about it, it's a privilege.

They did an experiment, and put out a huge number of identical resumes for job applications. The only diffidence between set one and set two was the one set had a typical European sounding name , the other had one that was distinctly black. They found that there were positive responses for getting an interview much more likely for the white sounding names (3 times as many) than the black sounding names.

Jon writes: Are you sure of that?

Are we sure you're white? We can only go with the evidence we have. Walks like a duck + talks like a duck = duck , with a pretty high confidence level. We don't often hear cows quacking and we don't often hear black people scoffing at the idea of white privilege.

Terms like 'white privilege' or 'male privilege' are nonsense buzzwords invented by brain-dead sociologists to avoid having to do actual analyses or, even worse, think.

[citation needed]

Even granting that white privilege exists as described by some here, the problem I think Phat is trying to bring to the table is that middle class and working class whites hardly feel privileged, and when we hear that we are we resent those who seem to us to be trying to bump us off the social map with their claims of being underprivileged and deserving special treatment.

I didn't grow up in the South and my family was decidedly "blue collar" working class. It's unfortunate but I never knew any blacks until I grew up and then it was in the context of being called their oppressor. Out of the blue it seemed. You're going along trying to cope with the disadvantages of your own situation and then you get accused of disadvantaging someone else and it's hard not to feel unfairly targeted.

Edited by Faith, : No reason given.