White Privilege Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack Summary

In the beginning of “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh brought up the topic of “men’s unwillingness to grant that they are overprivileged” and realized that “since hierarchies in our society are interlocking, there was most likely a phenomenon of white privilege which was similarly denied and protected.” McIntosh saw white privilege as “an invisible weightless backpack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks.” She then began to count the ways she had “unearned skin privilege” where she had been “conditioned into oblivion about its existence.” The list of twenty-six everyday advantages includes examples such as, “I can turn on the television or open to the front

Many would not understand how to use the technology today and being in this group is a privilege to understand. I would also not be ascribed negative stereotypes like “ancient,” or “old fart” when I am in this group of young to middle-aged individuals; I would feel privileged to not feel stereotyped against. Another privilege is not needing medical attention because the older one gets, the more likelihood of needing medical attention. Being young to middle aged, you are assumed to be healthier and have better physicality. Time is a privilege, too where there is more time to do things that are wanted in life. Being open-minded and “up to date” is a privilege as well because these are what society finds culturally acceptable as things are constantly changing. This group of people are also more socially networked, and have contact with many individuals. They still have their parents around, and they do not have to be financially reliable to offspring’s which I find is a privilege because of less

Therefore, the individuals outside the group of being young to middle-aged are oppressed due to the converse of the reasons listed above. Some of the reasons listed are tied to one another such as being technologically literate with not needing constant medical attention and being open-minded in conditions like the work force. Those outside the group, such as the elderly, are faced with oppression here. Although, “the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the number of workers fifty-five years and older is expected to increase by 47% during the period from 2006 to 2016” (Han & Richardson, 2015), they would eventually feel marginalized. People who are older than fifty-five are denied opportunities to participate in the work force because of their age.