America is going through a realm of racial tension that has started movements about equality and open dialogues about race. Living in America has always been based on the guidelines of white America. Often the word white privilege emerges when groups outside of the white race are stigmatized for doing the same thing a person of the white race does. America is known to predominantly draw the line between black and white people. I thought it would be interesting to interview a coworker from the white race and get a glimpse of what it was like for her to grow up white and what it meant to her.
Being that we cannot use her real government name due to confidential reasons, I will reference my interviewee as Jane Doe. Jane Doe is a 26-year-old middle
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Kohlberg moral development theory has six levels broken down into three sections. These sections were the pre-conventional level, conventional level, and post conventional level. The pre-conventional sections consisted of the first two stages (punishment/obedience and instrumental relativist orientation). Next the conventional level consisted of the third and fourth level (interpersonal correspondence and the law and order orientation). In sequence the Post- conventional levels included the final fifth and sixth stages (the social contract legalistic orientation and the universal ethical principal). Kohlberg,1971 suggest that humans develop through these stages in life but everyone doesn’t meet the sixth stage. He suggests that people like Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and other influential people can only reach this …show more content…
Jane doe noted that she always she’s herself as a pleaser she lives to see smiles on people faces. She said” while growing up I was always the nice girl; I don’t think I have a mean bone in my body. My feelings are hurt easily and I figured if I’m always nice others will be nice to me as well.” Kohlberg ,1971 Third stage Interpersonal Correspondence “Nice –boy/Good-girl” explains nice behaviors help others gain approval from others. Being nice to others becomes important for the first time. Jane doe also expressed how she feels about showing others respect especially her close family. She explained that her father drilled in her the importance of showing respect to her elders and how important it is to show respect by answering yes ma’am/sir and no ma’am/ sir when speaking to an Authority figure. This is an example of Kohlbergs,1971 fourth stage Law and Order which suggest that the right behavior consists of doing one duty of showing respect for authority and maintaining the given social order for its own
Gina Crosley-Corcoran, author of Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person, informs her readers about her misinterpretation of white privilege. After being called out for her unknowing use of white privilege, Gina begins to plead her case. Beginning with her childhood, Gina explains how she grew up “on the go”. Travelling from place to place, Gina lived in a rundown trailer and her family obtained little to no money, had no access to hot water, survived on cheap, malnourished foods, and dealt with a bad home life. After evaluating her history when placed at the end of life’s spectrum, Gina finds it hard to pick out white privilege in her life and therefore argues she has none. Later, Gina is introduced to a woman named Peggy McIntosh
Before one can analyze the ways in which Cronin demonstrates how an individual becomes self enlightened it is necessary to explain what the process of personal development is. Personal development includes activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employability, enhance quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations. Many discuss the idea in great detail including ways to initiate development. One prominent figure in the field was Lawrence Kohlberg, an American phycologist. He developed what’s popularly known as Kohlberg's Three Levels and Six Stages of Moral Reasoning. The first stage is “pre-conventional” where a individual is focused on obedience and avoiding punishment and is also considered self-oriented. The second stage is “Conventional” where the individual is interpersonal and conforms to maintain a social orientation. The last stage, “Post-Conventional,” is arguably on...
Tim Wise is a white man who grew up in Tennessee. His book, “Dear White America,” was written in the format of a letter from a white person in America to other white people in America. He understands that his audience will likely be mostly made up of people of color or those that already agree with him, but he wrote this to remind himself and others of the advantages of being white in the United States. Wise has views on racism that may be considered radical or offensive to many white people. He uses both personal experience and theoretical experiences to illustrate and explain the themes and ideas presented. The major theme of this book is not, as some may assume, “black vs. white” or “people of color vs. white people.” The major themes of “Dear White America” are accepting white privilege, and how to use white privilege to bring about change in multiracial relationships and societal structures.
Buck, Pem Davidson. “Constructing Race, Creating White Privilege.” Race, Class, and Gender in the United States. Ed. Paula Rothenberg. New York, NY: Worth Publishers, 2010. 32-37. Print.
Because I am white, no one wonders if I am associated with terrorists or feels nervous and pulls their belongings closer if I am alone in an elevator with them. Going to school I always had a sense of safety. Having brought white privilege to my conscious awareness, it raised feelings of guilt and shame, because I was ignorant to my oppressiveness for so long. These feelings empowered me to identify various ways in which I can challenge the concept of white privilege in myself and others. On an individual level this can be done by increasing awareness of privilege, reducing feelings of guilt, accepting one’s own role in perpetuating racism. Do not assume that all differences are the same, acknowledge and validate everyone’s experience, avoid assumptions, listen with compassion, and create safety and room for everyone. Additional ways to challenge white privilege consist of exploring resources produced by or about other races, developing relationships with people across racial lines, positioning oneself in a context where they are the numerical minority, and/or exploring the field of whiteness
When asked about white privilege, many whites believe that it is a myth while others deny the existence of white privilege entirely. However, white privilege is not a myth. White privilege is very prevalent in society and uniquely effects many different groups. Peggy McIntosh discusses white privilege in her article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” McIntosh states, “I have come to see while 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” (par. 3).
Growing up I never witnessed any white privilege. However, I was told to judge someone not by their skin but their behavior and action rather. Although, now that I know that the recognition of white privilege it definitely makes it better for me to understand my life here in the United States. It helps me understand the social life and the discrimination going on here better. I did experience lot of white privilege when I moved to America. Getting through the airport security, the workers always smiled at the white people and white people did not have to wait in line. However, my family and I had to wait in a long time at the Boston Logan Airport when we first moved
One’s cultural identity consists of their race, gender, socioeconomic status, age, religion, and so on. Being aware of your own cultural identity is just as important as being aware of other’s. People’s cultural identity defines who they are, the privilege (or lack of privilege) they receive, and how society views them. It is important to understand that White individuals have more privileges than individuals of color. White individuals do not experience detriment and difficulties due specifically to their skin color and instead receive advantages. White privilege is defined as benefits that white individuals have that people of color do not (Kendall, 2012). The following walks through my personal cultural background, how it was shaped, defined, and developed, and limitations to my personal competencies.
Carol Gilligan (1982) sparked a heated academic debate with her popular book In a different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development. In this book Gilligan departs from the traditional sequential stage modals advocated by luminary psychologists such as Piaget (1925) and Kohlberg (1969) and develops her own moral orientation model. Gilligan criticises these theories as she claims they are insensitive to females 'different voice' on morality and therefore result in women achieving lower stages, thereby labelling them morally inferior to men.
Tim Wise focuses on the notion of white privilege, and how it is not only unjust, but how it causes harm to people in every aspect of society not just ethnic minorities. We must be honest about the ways in which white people collaborate with the systems that privilege us and oppress others. White privilege and white supremacy still exist in the United States. White people are given smoother passes to success and prosper in life, compared with ethnic minorities. Their treatment as
Peggy McIntosh, Associate Director of the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women , describes 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” (J. Roehl, personal communication, August 16, 2016). Consequently, there are many ways in which my white race allows my privilege, many of which I take for granted without even recognizing. According to the White Privilege Checklist (J. Roehl, personal communication, August 16, 2016), my skin color allows me freedom from harassment in a multiple of settings (including schools and stores); it allows me the freedom to fearlessly get on or off a city bus; and, if it really mattered to me, I have
There are two prominent writer/scholars who have taken the issue of white privilege to heart and have shared their expert analysis on the subject; these authors/writer-scholars are Peggy McIntosh, a white feminist, and Beverly Tatum, an African American Psychologist. McIntosh, in her article "Coming to See Correspondences," makes excellent observations about the privilege that she has experienced just by being a white female in America. The two most significant points made by McIntosh in this article are as follows. One, “A white skin in the United States opens many doors for whites whether or not we approve of the way dominance has been conferred on us…the silence and denials surrounding privilege are the key political tools here” (P. 104). The second and even more important point is that “the obliviousness about white advantage, like obliviousness about male advantage, is kept strongly inculturated in the United States so as to maintain the myth of meritocracy, the myth that democratic choice is equally available to all…props up those in power and serves to keep power in the hands of the same groups that have most of it already” (105).
The debate on whether white privilege exists in the U.S. continues to split the majority of Americans into two conflicting realms of thought; one believing that the theory of white privilege only results in minorities exploiting this concept as an excuse for their lack of success, while the opposing side insists that the structure of American institutions is biased against minorities, mainly towards black Americans, thus resulting in an opportunity gap that impedes these individuals’ ability to realize their goals. These two opposing viewpoints are easily identified in Jon Stewart’s interview of Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, with Stewart arguing that white privilege is a reality for countless black Americans while O’Reilly refutes this argument vehemently.
Kohlberg’s theory of the stages of moral development has gained some popularity despite being controversial. The claim that the levels form a “ladder,” the bottom being the immature child with a pre-conventional level and the top being a post conventional ethical individual. The sequence is unvarying and the subject must begin at the bottom with aspirations to reach the top, possibly doing so. (7) Research confirms that individuals from different cultures actually progress according to Kohlbergs theory, at least to the conventional level. Kohlberg’s stages of moral development continue to provide a foundation for psychology studies of moral reasoning. (6)
Privilege is a term associated with the process of granting certain rights and benefits to a specified group of people and/or an individual. An individual being shown preference in a certain situation may or may not receive similar treatment, when confronting other circumstances. For this matter, it is incredibly significant for one to remain mindful of the ways in which privilege and discrimination function within similar scales of inclusion and exclusion. This essay serves as an examination of the particular treatment received by white individuals, compared to that of non-white beings.