Privilege is a word thrown around by many individuals, wither they are talking about key issues or laughing at such an idea that we would have something such as privilege in America. I have heard numerus people in my family exclaim that there is no such thing because they, too, a white, middle class American, have faced hardship. Though it seems that if you have face hardship and destitute you have no privilege, which is simply not the situation. Privilege impacts every individual differently, and even I, someone in a minority group, have many privileges over my brothers and sisters who are a part of the same oppressed group. Why does this all matter though? How can you be both oppressed and privileged at the same instance? Generally speaking …show more content…
We need to stand together to end social boundaries between us, and to make the country of freedom and equality truly equal. America has been prolonged in a state of hypocrisy. We need the public to educate themselves on the issues that are still rabid today. Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and the pay gap between man and women are still profound problems in America and we need to be the innovators that ends this. So go to protests, sit-ins, and rallies; listen to the concerns of those oppressed. Look into the media and find the facts on current events in place of the doctored stories they sell you. Most of all, look down through that glass ceiling you’re standing on and help the people stuck below find the tools to break through. There might be a fear of falling, but no one will fall. Those from a place of privilege will remain stagnant, others will simply join in on the equality. Consequently life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are our rights, we fought for these ideals. We need to keep fighting until these rights blanket the entire population and we are all safe in our own skin. We are a country built on the back of horror and death, so it is time that we step away from our past and make the sacrifice of those hurt worth it. We need to make this a country that we can be proud of
5. Johnson discusses “privilege as paradox” to explain that being identified as individuals of the privileged group doesn’t really say much about who they are individually as a person. People are treated with privilege because others have a perception that they are associated with those particular groups and social categories. For example, white privilege is more about having the white skin color rather than who they are as people in general. One is not privileged because of who they are as a person but rather belonging the “white” category.
I sometimes get irritated when people don’t agree on the same ideas that I have or when the other person says something that I don’t agree with. The objective of this chapter made me comprehend that based on an individual’s experiences and viewpoints impacts the person’s behavior. Some experience may deal with the oppressions and privileges a person has, the article “Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person…” made me realize that I am more privilege than what I thought. The author didn’t think she was privilege until she read a book she got recommended and from her article she summarizes
White Privilege in America Recently in America racial tension has increased because events that’s have been occurring across the country. Across the United States (U.S.) black men have been killed by law enforcement and this has sparked protest in its aftermath. The media has started to give more time to these problems so more Americans have learned about them. This has started a conversation on different social issues that include the dominant culture, social privilege in the U.S. As a young black man this has affected me directly.
This is not to imply that white people cannot be oppressed in other aspects of their lives, as a cause of the other social identities with which they
What makes people unequal to others in their mind? Many think others are unequal because they are simply different from them. The possibilities on being different from another person are almost infinite, but most often, and not limited to, are race, religion, gender, sexuality, or just being an outcast. Looking at just the United States, it is a huge melting pot based on immigration throughout history. Being an immense melting pot is a blessing and a curse; while it creates cultural diversity, it also creates discrimination, which America is notoriously known for.
Whites are privileged because we are seen as the average American. We do not get second glances, because nobody suspects we are doing anything but living our lives. Though since we are not subject to this intense scrutiny we do not realize that we in turn do this to African Americans, just simply living their daily lives as well. McIntosh (1988) points out that she repeatedly forgot each of the realizations on this list until I wrote it down. For me white privilege has turned out to be an elusive and fugitive subject.
New York, New York - Who ever said; "When Opportunity knocks, open the door?" Whomever uttered that statement should be shot and gagged. That's the problem we face in this egotistical society! Opportunity is a fundamental gift that reserves itself for those who take and embrace a situation by exherating effort to make it happen. Charlamagne Tha God, the co-host of Power 105.1's The Breakfast Club explains in his new book Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It, how embracing one's truths is the fundamental key to success and happiness.
According to the Constitution, people can’t be stripped from their inalienable rights which are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Despite the implement of the Constitution, “freedom” was defined differently in the 1980s than it was in the 20th century. Back in the 1980s, “freedom” was still not seen as a right to all people due to some of the laws such as the Immigration Reform and Control Act” that were implemented to go against the Constitution. While, in the 20th century, “freedom” was viewed as a right since “freedom” was offered to every people no matter what their race, their color of the skin, their religion, and their sexuality. For example, former president Barack Obama was able to make same-sex marriage legal, lifted the restriction on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” barred employers for firing their employees for being either transgender or having a different sexuality, allowed everyone to have universal access to ObamaCare, and had a diversified cabinet that helped Obama make tough decisions to make America the most affluent and strongest country in the world.
Present at least two different sociological approaches to social inequality and discuss these approaches with reference to a concrete problem area of contemporary relevance. Social inequality can be found in various aspects of society, the question is if inequality is only caused by the lack of economical estate or if other reasons are underlining it. This essay argues how Max Weber distinguishes between social class and strata and how one often leads to the other. Furthermore, it presents Pierre Bourdieu’s notions of habitus, capital and fields as an explanation of how people can achieve different social statuses within different fields because of their capitals. At last, the two different sociological approaches to social inequality is used to analyze the case of non-traditional students at Australian universities and how they are socially disadvantaged compared to traditional students because of their lack economical support, language skills, educational skills and social relations.
The trouble around diversity Johnson states within chapter one of his book that people differ from one another. The trouble is produced by a world organized in ways that encourage people to use difference to include or exclude, reward or punish, credit or discredit, elevate or oppress, value or devalue, leave alone or harass. Privilege exists when one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to, rather than because of anything they've done or failed to do"(Johnson, 21). Privilege can also refer to unearned advantages.
Wealth and Inequality in America Inequality The inequality in America has increased over time; the gap between the rich and the poor has become a problem that many Americans don’t see. Inequality is the extent of income which is distributed unequally among the citizenry. The inequality of the United has a large gap between the poor and the rich making it unfair to the population, the rich are becoming wealthier and the poor remain poor. The article “Of the 1%, By the 1%, For the 1%”, authored by Joseph E. Stiglitz describes that there is a 1 percent amount of American’s who are consuming about a quarter of the United States income in a year.
A problem I would like to solve is the prevalent racial inequality in the United States today. African Americans and Hispanics are the most underserved racial groups in American society. About 45% of African Americans and 46% of Hispanics live in episodic poverty (defined as poverty lasting less than three years). Over 15% of African Americans are unemployed, and they make up 40% of the prison population in America. This is a shocking statistic, as only 13% of the United States ' population is African American.
3.1 How income inequality affect on people live in America. The income gap in America affects people, who live in this country. The issue has a strong impact in America’s society; in particular, the nutritional disparity between rich and poor people. In USA, the food gap becomes the top signal for the class distinction, but it used to be clothing or fashion. The food inequality in America is not only influencing the poverty, it is also cost hundreds of billions of dollar per year because of Non Communicable Diseases (NDCs) (Ferdman, 2014).
America prides itself on being one of the most effective democratically governed counties. The idea of the American dream is that all people have equivalent political freedoms and a responsive government. However the effectiveness of social equality is being threatened by increasing inequality in the United States. Economic inequality in the US has expanded drastically. The wealth gap has had drastic changes over the past 35 years.
I believe social classes have defined our society in many ways. In America, they separate people into three different classes: the upper class, middle class, and the lower or working class. Based on wealth and various occupations, social classes determine the population’s status in society. Social classes today define individuals and influence their actions. Although people born in a certain class may choose to stay there, they also have the choice of leaving.