White Privilege Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack Summary

579 Words2 Pages

In Peggy McIntosh’s essay, “White Privilege Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” she recounts 50 ways in which white privilege has been present in her life, something she never considered before. White privilege today has, not by its own account, morphed into a word whom not many want to be associated with. Today, so many white people are made to feel guilty about their white privilege even though it is not their fault that they were born that way. In McIntosh’s essay, she does not say such things to make white people feel guilty, but rather to realize that being born white in America earns you certain unearned privileges in this particular society; that involuntarily white people benefit from a system that favors light skin. McIntosh sheds light

Show More
Related

  • Essay On Post Racial Society

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    “White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks” (McIntosh, 172). White privilege is all around us, but society has been carefully taught

    Read More

  • White Privilege Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack Analysis

    460 Words  | 1 Pages

    In her article, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh writes about the privilege white individuals get without noticing it. McIntosh talks about how whites are taught to not recognize their privilege. McIntosh having a background in Women’s Studies, she also talks about how men have more privileges than women, yet they rarely recognize it. In the article McIntosh claims that “After I realized the extent to which men work from a base of unacknowledged privilege, I understood that much of their oppressiveness was unconscious.”

    Read More

  • Analysis Of White Privilege Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    Growing up as an African-American you are always taught to be twice as good. Twice as good as the white people to receive the same treatment as them. I grew up hearing this same phrase constantly but never really understood exactly what it meant until I got old enough to actually see the kind of world we are living in. The author of the article, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” Peggy Mclntosh, took as step into shoes of black America and found that white privilege not only exist, but many whites are blind to it. She gives a clear argument about how white privilege is harmful to our society and how we can work together to fix this.

    Read More

  • The New White Man's Burden

    1547 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the course of history, nations have invested time and manpower into the colonizing and modernizing of more rural governments. Imperialism has spread across the globe, from the British East India Company to France’s occupation of Northern Africa. After their founding in 1776, the United States of America largely stayed out of this trend until The Spanish-American War of 1898. Following the war, the annexation and colonization of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines ultimately set a precedent for a foreign policy of U.S. imperialism.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of White Privilege Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack

    852 Words  | 2 Pages

    Peggy McIntosh wrote this article to identify how her white privilege effects her life. Each statement is written as a privilege that Ms. McIntosh does not need to consider or fear as a white woman. From financial credibility to national heritage, this article makes a valid point regarding the way white people can be arrogant and naïve when the same treatment is not being given to their neighbors, coworkers, and peers. There can be two responses when reading this. The first would be a person of color. They will appreciate the attempt at realization of what white people take for granted. The second would be the reality that smacks the white people in the face when they realize how true all 50 statements are. Once this begins to sink in, many will start to broaden their competence realizing the unfair treatment of the people in this world. Moving down the timeline, we can see how the acknowledgement can mend broken relationships. Owning the reality and doing something to change it can give the people of different races the treatment they deserve (McIntosh,

    Read More

  • Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack Summary

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dr. Peggy McIntosh looks at white privilege, by “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” She describes white privilege as almost a special check or coin that she gets to cash in on. Dr. McIntosh tells that white privilege has been a taboo and repressed subject – and that many white people are taught not to see or recognize it. However, she is granted privileges (McIntosh 30). Dr. McIntosh goes on to describe twenty-six ways in which her skin-color grants her certain privileges. In example twenty, she describes how she can buy “…posters, postcards, picture books…” and other items that “…feature people of my race” (32). Additionally, in her first example, she talks about being able to be in the “company of people of my race most of the time” (McIntosh 31). Instances in which a privilege person would not even recognize unless they were looking, show evidence for white privilege. People take these advantages for granted because they simply expect them. Due to the lack of melatonin in her skin, she was granted privileges and her skin served as an asset to her. Dr. McIntosh conveys how her privilege is not only a “favored state,” but also a power over other

    Read More

  • Christine Emba's White Privilege?

    1074 Words  | 3 Pages

    In her 16 January 2016 The Washington Post editorial, “What is White Privilege?”, Christine Emba asserts white privilege is a societal advantage inherent in people who are white, irrespective of their “wealth, gender, or other factors.” According to Emba, white privilege makes life smoother and is an entity that is hidden or unknown until the privilege is taken away. Although racism is still a rampant issue in society today, white privilege is a concept created by the progressive left in order to brand whites as a scapegoat for issues and adversities that non-whites face. This concept of privilege ultimately causes further dissension between whites and non-whites.

    Read More

  • White Privilege Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack Analysis

    349 Words  | 1 Pages

    Peggy McIntosh writes a list of white people privileges in her writing, the “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” In her writing, she lists 46 privileges that white people receive for granted. The list is a little disturbing because it is exclusive to the white people only. It is also a lot of biases in the list that may only apply to herself because there are some items that are unrelated to her race like talking with mouth full or coming late to a meeting. Those items should be applicable to everyone because those are ethics that our society built. After seeing McIntosh’s list, I conclude that the majority of white people are thinking of dominating their surroundings. It is shown from how she lists the items that

    Read More

  • Unpacking the Concept of White Privilege

    1028 Words  | 3 Pages

    White privilege is a term used to refer to societal privileges granted to people identified as white in western countries. These privileges are beyond what is experienced by non-white or people of color living under the same economic, political and social environments. These privileges could be obvious or less obvious that white people may not realize they have. These include cultural affirmations of one 's own worth, presumed greater social status, and the freedom to move, buy, work, play, and speak freely (McIntosh, 1990). The effects of these privileges can also be seen in personal, educational and professional contexts. In both Tim Wise’s, ‘White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son’ and Ta-Nehisi

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Christine Emba's 'White Privilege?'

    1138 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the article “What is White Privilege?” Christine Emba explains what white privilege is and how it naturally comes with benefits, being a person of the white race. Emba talks about the societal advantages that come with being in the group called “norm American”. She’s states about how having white privilege has made its self home in America, shifting how other non dominating races lives are being affected. Emba’s article was a success only if you were new to the idea of white privilege or just opening up to the idea. She gives a well rounded bases to white privilege and its effects. She discusses the advantages of being a white American and how you are given a social privilege automatically. How even though some people cause

    Read More

  • The Myth Of White Privilege

    1845 Words  | 4 Pages

    With all of these facts, the author tries to prove that racial differences and privileges appear exaggerated and unrealistic. The privileged and less privileged exist at all levels of society. Duke wants white people to understand that they are in the same position as all other races. The awareness of “white privilege” is only a fallacy that causes feel of guilt without foundation.

    Read More

  • Summary Of White Like Me By Tim Wise

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tim Wise’s book White Like Me provides a picture of what it is like to be white in America. A main topic covered in White Like Me is white privilege. On pages 24 and 25 Wise illustrates what white privilege is and shares his opinion regarding how to address white privilege in society today. Wise’s plan for addressing white privilege is one not of guilt, but of responsibility, a difference Wise highlights. The concept of feeling guilty for white privilege lacks reason because white privilege is something built up through generations and its existence is not of any one person’s fault.

    Read More

  • Peggy McIntosh's White Privilege And Male Privilege

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    The main point that McIntosh is pushing forward is that both whites and males have certain advantages. McIntosh says that “white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets” (605). White privilege are these advantages that white people receive just for being white. They didn’t earn any of the privilege other than being born with the right skin tone. She also recognizes them as being “invisible”. They don’t realize that they have this advantage over everyone else.

    Read More

  • Peggy Mcintosh's 'White Privilege'

    946 Words  | 2 Pages

    Published from the Wellesley College Center in 1988, Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A personal Account of Coming to See Correspondence Through Work in Women’s Studies” explains and goes into detail about the advantages and unearned privileges that both white and male individuals experience. In this paper she identifies some of the daily effects of white privilege in her life. In these conditions she lists she says they attach more to skin-color privilege than to class, religion, ethnic status, or geographic location (7-11). In this paper McIntosh recalls that whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege (3). She realizes

    Read More

  • The White Man’s Burden

    713 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the “White Man’s Burden”, Rudyard Kipling claims that it is the duty or burden of the white men to civilize the non-whites, to educate them and to religiously lift them (lecture notes, 2/8). Kipling is specifically talking about the colonized non-whites (lecture notes, 2/8). The idea that the newly colonized non-whites were lacking and needing help from a greater society was common among American whites at this time (lecture notes, 2/8). Rudyard uses the whites’ public feelings towards the issue and writes “The White Man’s Burden” in an attempt to move the whites to help the non-whites because he thinks it is a very beneficial movement for the U.S.

    Read More

More about White Privilege Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack Summary

Open Document