Whit Institutional Discrimination: White Privilege In Our Society

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White privilege is the advantageous opportunities whites have for simply just being white. Whites can see their race widely represented in tv commercials, magazine ads, children’s books, and corporate American jobs. Our white heritage tells us it is the white people who established America and made it to be the leader it is today. In reality, people of color also greatly impacted and shaped America but our heritage doesn’t share that. Whites have benefits they are not fully aware of. “Being born with white skin in America affords people certain unearned privileges in life that people of other skin colors simply are not afforded” (Crosley). Whites never have to fear discrimination or backlash due to their ethnic background. White privilege is not something we choose, it is an advantage we are born into and people of color may never be able to obtain the privilege society unrecognizable gives whites. Understanding the privilege we have is important to understand our society today, and those who do understand …show more content…

It is the unintentional placing of all the advantages to the White ethnic group. It often takes place without individuals being aware they are depriving others of privileges. Structural functionalists describe this discrimination as the way society has created stability. Institutional discrimination shapes society and keeps it functioning as it has for decades. “Institutional racism exists in nearly ever corner of American society today and is what is driving the tension we are seeing.” Racism and discrimination are still an issue today because of the way our American institutions were established and the way they function. Some individuals recognize this issue and try to remove their discrimination, but even neutral standards in our institutions can cause discriminatory effects

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