...primarily white, middle class backgrounds, and the class is entirely ethnically Danish. I use my time in the practicum to prompt students’ self-reflection in an examination of their knowledge and experiences with privilege. I have employed several hands on activities to help students visualize and contextualize the privilege that exists within a seemingly homogenous class. It is a crisp 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the middle of an outdoor quad, with 18 students, one teacher, and me. Students are participating in an activity where they step up or step back if they agree with a personal statement that I read from...
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...Privilege is the Greatest Enemy of Equality Educators most often consider multicultural education as teaching their pupils about Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, and other descendants of color. However, multicultural education is not complete if it doesn’t challenge the root of structural racism and racial oppression: the matter of white privilege. It’s vital to understand white privilege and the role it plays in affecting society. In essence, white privilege is an unwilling and non-owned racism that has been ingrained into our mindset throughout history, and it affects how we interact with each other and how those who don’t share such advantages are affected. It’s a permeating factor responsible for many inequalities faced among races, widening the social gap between white and nonwhite Americans. Accessibility to education, jobs, and housing are all directly affected by societal inconsistencies of privilege and power. Ultimately, racism isn’t caused by white privilege; white privilege is caused by racism. Yet racism isn't a problem that resides in the minds of individuals; it lies rooted deep in our social institutions. It is necessary we reconstruct the societal ideologies of race and class to expel this self-perpetuating cycle. In this essay I will address these racial struggles for power and privilege, the role it plays in education, and my personal experience towards racism and how it has affected me as a person. Privilege, as defined by Websters Dictionary...
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...“What is white privilege?” is written by Christine Emba, who explains what “white privilege” means, how it originated and how it manifests itself in America. It’s the level of societal advantage that comes with being seen as the norm in America, automatically conferred irrespective of wealth, gender, or other factors. According to Christine Emba, white privilege is: “life easing level of advantage, no matter what your wealth, gender, or any other status is and just being white in America, you are respected and assumed the best. It is a set of unearned assets that a white person in America can count on clashing in each day but to which they remain largely oblivious. The article “Making My Head Spin” talks about unearned privilege...
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...Jenn King Sociology 204 Winter 2012 Social Stratification The word stratification is defined as the building up of layers. To stratify is to separate. In the World we live there is social stratification. This social separation or stratification exists everywhere on earth. People of societies are separated on the bases of social class, race, ethnicity, and gender. Let us examine these different kinds stratification. Social stratification is the ranking of people and the rewards they receive based on objective criteria including wealth, power, and/or prestige. All societies have social stratifications, but the how people are divided varies. In the U.S people are divided not only by political, corporate, and government elites, but also by income and wealth. Race and ethnic stratification occur when people are divided into groups according to their race and/or ethnic backgrounds. Race refers to one’s physical appearance and ethnicity refers to one’s cultural heritage. The groups are majority, minority, and dominate groups. Majority groups represent the group with the largest numbers and they have significant power and privilege in a society. Minority groups are less in numbers and have less power. Dominant groups are groups with power and they use their power to discriminate against others. Gender stratification occurs because society constructs what is appropriate for a girl and what is appropriate for a boy, therefore people are separated based on gender identity....
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...what is "traditional" they think a man and a women should be married, not anything other than that. But it's 2015 and things have begun to change in the right direction. I come from a very traditional family where you meet a guy, get married, have children etc. I currently live with my boyfriend in a house that we bought in Burlington, on top of going to school and working part-time. However, many of the people...
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...The main things that shaped my thinking in regards to “person” it would consist of three main structures of thinking my biological make-up, cultural identity and soci-cultural factors. With these three main or morally important structures, is what determines the person’s characteristics, ethical attributes, physical and health status, race and gender, religion, citizen and social economics status, education and etc. With these three categories we focus on what builds that person rather than judging there skin tone. What define me; Jodi-Ann Lawrence as a person how does my biological make-up, cultural identity and soci-cultural factors disguises me from the human race. By using the three main structure mention above; biological make-up, cultural identity and soci-cultural factors you would get to know the foundation that makes up the person of Jodi-Ann Lawrence; the norm of society would look at me as a “nigger”(black) based on my skin complexion, rather than judge me on the three structures that up a person . The Biological Make-up When you look at me the first thing you see my skin color, black, my nappy think hair, a thick woman (fat), however, this doesn’t define me. There are many layers to me. I am the first born child, to my mother and last born to my father; as well as the only girl and the only child between my parents. On the other hand, I have two half-brothers one older than the other younger. According to American Dietary and Nutrition Association, I’m considered...
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...PROMPT 1: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. Beneath the Surface I will never have my father’s smile or my mother’s eyes, and my skin tone will never match their pale skin, even though I am their daughter. My siblings and I do not have any traces of our parents’ DNA in our bodies because we are all adopted. Growing up in this unique household showed me the world from another perspective when my family and I embarked on a journey to adopt my younger sister from China. Traveling back to my birth country shaped me into the person I am today because I have become open-minded...
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...Male privilege…In black and white Dorrell Anthony Alexander Western Washington University What is “Privilege”? When we speak of privilege, what exactly are we speaking of? Many find it easy to get the basic fundamentals of a “right” and a “privilege” confused, so for foundational purposes, I would like to lay out how they differ. First, let’s talk about two of the different kinds of rights; “natural” and “legal”. According to Merriam-Webster (2013) Natural rights are “rights which are "natural" in the sense of "not artificial, not man-made”; “as in rights deriving from logic, from human nature, or from the edicts of a god”. They are ”universal”, (they apply to all people, and do not derive from the laws of any specific society),”They exist necessarily, inhere in every individual, and can't be taken away” ( Merriam-Webster, 2013). For example, it has been argued that humans have a natural right to life. They're sometimes called inalienable rights. Legal rights, in contrast, are “rights based on a society's customs, laws, statutes or actions by legislatures” (Merriam-Webster, 2013). An example of a legal right is the right to vote of citizens. “Citizenship, itself, is often considered as the basis for having legal rights, and has been defined as the "right to have rights"(Broidy and Agnew, 1997), Legal rights are sometimes called civil rights or statutory rights which Broidy and Agnew (1997) believe are “culturally and politically relative”, since they depend on a specific...
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...Nathan Salupo Professor Vann WMST 231-001 Privilege For my mini paper topic I focused on privilege. Before enrolling in this class I had no idea of what privileges were, who had which privileges, how we get our privileges, and the role that privileges play in our everyday lives. The topic of privileges shows up in Shaw and Lee chapter two which is the main focus. Privilege as defined by Shaw and Lee is defined as “Advantages that people have by virtue of their status or position in society.” For example males have advantages that are inherent just because they are males that females do not have. In the case of my topic I focused mainly on the privilege that white people have over black people. In early August in Ferguson, Missouri, 18 year old Michael Brown, an unarmed African American male was shot multiple times and killed after a confrontation with a cop. The officer, Darren Wilson, drove by the boys walking in the road and told them to move onto the sidewalk. Wilson then reversed his car back to the two boys where there was an apparent confrontation as Wilson recognized Brown as a suspect for a convenience store robbery days prior and the boys split off running in separate directions. It later became known that the robbery was not the reasons for the encounter that led to Brown’s death. (Washington Post) When Brown was killed there was a public outcry for him because he had been unarmed and was shot by a white police officer, Darren Wilson after what witnesses...
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...I am a white, healthy young woman of 20 from a middle class, single-parent, Catholic religious background. I am a lesbian. Dominelli (2002) imposes that identity is formed through processes that are rooted in a person’s sense of self of who they want to be, and draws upon group or collective identities depicted in their cultural components, which are socially used to define or specify a way of life or being. My social location is easily identifiable as a white female however, due to the dominance of white supremacy, I am not judged by my racial background much like a woman of “color” may be. These distortions on sexism provide awareness, that oppression is not only in terms of sex and in our patriarchal power system, white privilege is a benefit. Social Identity Although sexism is a problem in society, I do not suffer the same oppression faced by women of color. Lorde (1990), discusses the impacts of this built-in-privilege of whiteness and how it forces women of color to become an outsider. As a Catholic woman, I am faced with a similar power relation by identifying as a lesbian in my community, which is neither considered the societal norm nor accepted by the church. This disadvantage I face allows me to be socially aware of the impacts oppression has in society and agree with Mullaly (2002) who states that oppression “assumes a ‘fixed identity’ on the part of both oppressors and oppressed – that the world is divided into two groups and people belong in either one, but...
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...qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmrtyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmrtyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmrtyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmrtyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwer...
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...White American Privileges and Social Class Aieleen Lanot University of Hawaii – West Oahu White American Privileges and Social Class Privilege is a concept of sociology used to implicate that there are certain groups of individuals that have an advantage over others. “Social liberties use the term to mean benefits according to white people under economic, political, and social circumstance. (Anyon 17)” I agree with his stance because there is no extension of such privileges to individuals of other races such as Blacks, Hispanics or Asians. The use of this term is mainly in the social inequality context primarily in relation to social class, sexual orientation, race, age, and gender. Several recorded privileged elements show the advantageous that White America has in getting access to better housing, jobs, and education. This paper will explore the issue of White American privileges and how social class status is based on color of your skin and the financial means of your family. In the article by Peggy McIntosh, she defines, “White privileges as a package of unearth assets, invisible in nature and are obvious” (McIntosh 10). There is a comparison of white privilege to an undetectable light knapsack of assurance, maps, tools, guidance, visa, codebooks, clothes, passbooks, emergency gear, blank checks, etc. I concur with Peggy McIntosh analysis since there are several functions brought about by white privileges. These functions include provisions of “perks”...
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...eat pork while pork is the most common meat consumed by Han. In my high school, there were two dinning rooms: a big one for Han students, and the other small one for Hui students. I had dinner with my friend-Qian, who was Hui, but stayed with me in Han Chinese dinning room on that day. I enjoyed my pork dish, and wanted to share it with her but she refused. Qian explained, “I am Hui people, we do not eat pork.” I did not give up and said, “Come on, I have known you for ages, we are the same, we are all Chinese people. I can not see any differences.” My friend began to keep silent, and I kept persuading her, “just try one slice of the pork, they are really delicious”. However, my friend frowned and said “I can not eat it. The smell of the pork makes me sick”. After hearing her words, I stopped persuading her to eat pork because I did not want to make her uncomfortable. Then we began to talk other topics. I was unaware that what I committed was a microaggression at that time. Microaggressions are verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional happening in daily life, conveying communicating hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color (Sue et al., 2007). In this case, I did not see ethnic differences and persuaded my friend to have same food with me, communicating the subtle derogative meaning to my friend. In order to analyze the power issue, the author would like...
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...Paolo Mutia Sociology – Gordon 3 November 2015 Assignment 3 Social status is the position that someone occupies in society or in a social group, while roles are the behaviors, obligations, and privileges attached to a status. For example, a woman may have the status of mother in her family. Because of this status of a mother, she is expected to perform a role for her children. This role may be defined through actions such as nurturing, education, protecting, and guiding the children. Social structure, is the arrangement of institutions where human beings in a society interact and live together. The group collectively decides the set of statuses and roles. By creating a set of expectations of actions and behavior, people know what to expect...
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...Privilege in its general terms means to have a special advantage or benefits that are accessible to an individual or a group. In the case of Shamus Khan’s book, this privilege was provided and learnt at St. Paul. The author provided several ways of how students at St. Paul experienced privilege. High class schools like St. Paul were a foundation for the elite students because they were taught everyday lessons to inscribe privilege in a way that will make privilege to feel natural ( Khan, 2011, p.132). It can be said that through these life lessons at St. Paul, naturalness of wealth and power was important for these students (Khan, 2011, p.132). To begin, St. Paul became a site where elites were made and the aim was to create distinctions and...
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