Privilege Examples

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Privilege is a certain advantage given to one group of people to benefit them at the expense of the disadvantaged group. Popular examples include privileges regarding race, gender, sexual preference, class, and ability. McIntosh explains the concept of privilege as being in possession of an “invisible backpack of unearned assets” that one can “count on cashing in each day,” while remaining ignorant of having the backpack in the first place. While one person may carry around a backpack full of these tools, another person is walking around with nothing in their backpack. The tools provided by privilege are utilized every day to guide the advantaged group in their journey, but the advantaged group is not even aware of the backpack’s strength. On the contrary, the disadvantaged group without backpacks observe their advantaged counterparts skate through life with all these resources to aid them while they trek through the obstacles of life empty-handed.
McIntosh describes numerous conditions that race privilege plays a significant role in everyday life. For example, she states, “If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area I can afford and in which I would want to live,” and, “I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty …show more content…

The systems encompassing race, gender, class, etc. are interconnected and that affects the different outcomes of disadvantage. Looking at McIntosh’s examples, what if that white woman was homosexual or of a low socioeconomic status? A poor white woman still has white privilege, but that does not mean she will definitely live where she wants to or feel as though she will not be harassed while shopping. Being of low class, she could still be living in poor urban areas that pose the same threats to people of all races. Her white privilege can only take her so far in that

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