White Privilege And Racism

White privilege can be recognised as a racist concept because in this concept people are assessed by race categories or a set of culturally constructed classifications. White privilege is a term which benefits people identified as white. According to Dottolo and Kaschak (2015, p. 179), white privilege refers to unearned race privileges which white people are likely to receive in Western societies, and it is beyond what is commonly experienced by non-white people under the same circumstances. White people are not necessarily conscious of the privileges they receive and how they influence their belief, value, power, attitudes and behaviours because some do not see a correlation between this privilege and racism due to their racial group membership.

The social construction does not exist independently in the natural world. Willis and Elmer (2011, p. 10) explain social constructionism is a sociological theory which indicates the social, cultural and historical circumstances create and form what is generally considered valid and real. White privilege and racism are examples of socially constructed knowledge serving power relationship. The idea or notion which appears to be natural and obvious to particular group of people does not have to mean the same to others, and this does not mean one is wrong or right. There are multiple realities due to many different cultural believes, values, assumptions and priorities. According to Burr (2015, p. 4), the realities are dependent upon where and when people live. Social constructionism can be used to understand different perceptions of the world and gain new experience. Burr (2015, p. 3) states social constructionism could caution people to become suspicious of their assumptions and make people to consider how they understand the world and concepts they commonly use. The social constructionism has also impacted on the development of health. Social constructionism allowed to understand difference between the biological condition and the social meaning of the condition (Willis & Elmer, 2011, p. 8). Thus, social

The social construction of gender means that the identities, roles, behaviours and expectations of men and women reflect socially constructed idea or notion about masculinity and femininity, and it is different from biological and physiological sex. Willis and Elmer (2011, p. 123) define gender as the social and cultural meaning ascribed to being male or female. Heterosexism is seen as a biased term because of an assumption that heterosexuality is the natural or normal sexual orientation and others are abnormal. According to Willis and Elmer (2011, p. 135), heterosexism refers to the discriminatory belief towards non-heterosexuals. This concept involves exclusion of the acknowledgement of GLBTI people. In these concepts, heterosexuality has the power to define GLBTI people as marginal and abnormal. This socially constructed norm has created health inequalities among GLBTI people and contributed to poor mental health because of the inequality, discrimination and a lack of cultural competency in healthcare system. One reason leading to poor mental health is fear of stigma or discrimination. Many GLBTI people need to concern and modify their daily activities in order to avoid discrimination (Willis & Elmer, 2011, p.